Qantas' first Airbus A380 ferried to Australia in preparation for its return to service next year
Romain Guillot
 le 07/11/2021 , Maintenance aéronautique
Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW), the MRO joint venture between ST Engineering and Airbus, announces that it delivered an A380 to Qantas on November 8th, after carrying out major maintenance work on the aircraft at its Dresden facility.
The Super Jumbo then returned to its Sydney base with a 19-hour non-stop flight. It is the first A380 to land again in Australia after a hiatus of almost 2 years linked to the pandemic.
This aircraft (MSN 15, VH-OQB) had been stored since March 2020 in a dedicated hangar in Los Angeles (California). The aircraft had reached Germany in August for the complete replacement of its landing gear.
As a reminder, Qantas will reactivate 10 of the 12 A380s in its fleet. The first two aircraft will be put back into service from April 2022 (to Los Angeles). Three other aircraft should join them from November 2022. Finally, the last five A380s are expected in service at the beginning of the year 2024.
The German MRO company is a long-standing partner of Qantas on its A380 fleet, having carried out a complete retrofit of the cabins of four A380s, as well as the heavy maintenance of five others aircraft. The airline's cargo division, Qantas Freight, is also an EFW customer in the freighter conversion business. With Australia Post, Qantas operates EFW's first Airbus freighter in Australia, the A321P2F.
EFW also recalled that it was one of the few companies in the world with the expertise in the maintenance of the world's largest passenger aircraft, including for extensive cabin modifications.
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