The red-tailed superjumbo is coming back to Melbourne next month, but only for a limited time...
Qantas is bringing the Airbus A380 and first class back to the Melbourne-Los Angeles route in June, but only for a handful of days across a two-week stretch, before the superjumbo beds down for a longer-term spot on the schedule from December.
Starting Monday June 6 through to Friday June 17, according to the airline’s online timetable, the double-decker A380 will slot in as QF93/QF94 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with the Boeing 787 rostered on most other days.
Seatmaps show these A380s are among those to have been refurbished, with the Marc Newson-designed First suites refreshed with new seat coverings and larger HD video screens...
But more significant are the same modern business class and premium economy seats as on the Boeing 787s...
Plus two upper-deck lounge areas for first and business class flyers with a self-service bar and the option to order drinks and snacks.
Melbourne-LAX is the latest international route for the return of the A380s, following Sydney-LAX in January and the June 19 restart of Sydney-Singapore-London A380 flights, with the Qantas Singapore First Lounge set to reopen that same day.
“Our customers in Melbourne have told us they have really missed the Qantas A380, so it’s fantastic that they’ll be back flying by the end of the year with our full premium service on these newly refurbished aircraft,” says Qantas Group Chief Customer Officer Stephanie Tully.
The current Qantas schedule shows the A380 will return to the Melbourne-Los Angeles skies from December 1 every Thursday, Saturday and Monday, with the likelihood of additional days joining the roster in March 2023.
This will be accompanied by the start of non-stop flights between Melbourne and the Dallas/Fort Worth hub of Oneworld partner American Airlines.
Source: Executive Travller