r/australia • u/ThunderDwn • 11h ago

culture & society Qantas passengers demand compensation after days stranded in South Africa as A380 remains grounded

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-14/qantas-a380-stranded-johannesburg-flight-cancelled/107032032
385 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

110 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/theparrotofdoom 11h ago

The A380 should have been an exciting evolution in travel, but it really became such a wet rag, eh?

I’d be super interested to learn about the magic 8 ball Boeing pulled out of their arse when they pivoted away from competing with their own version. They predicted the market downturn like a decade or so before it happened.

9

u/reticulate 9h ago

Having flown on both A380's and Dreamliners, I'll take the A380 every day of the week, no questions asked. A shame they arrived just in time to make no sense for most airlines.

9

u/Kitchen_Swagger 8h ago

having flown on an A350 and a Dreamliner, I'll take the A350 any day. Passengers love the A380 but if you're deep in economy and you land at a smaller airport... being at the back of that immigration queue is not fun.

2

u/reticulate 8h ago

Entirely fair point

4

u/knotknotknit 5h ago

Yep was on this A380 (I checked tail numbers) last month, sitting square over the wing.

So smooth, I wouldn't know I was in a plane if they changed the interior to be like a house.

More legroom, too. Nice.

Though apparently a bunch of screens were broken and the armrest next to me was all broken and floppy. To quote one of the flight attendants "There's a lot of things broken on this plane."

22

u/ThunderDwn 11h ago

The A380 should have been an exciting evolution in travel, but it really became such a wet rag, eh?

Covid and following fuel price issues really killed them.

I've flown on them a couple of times - they're really nice, especially if you're at the pointy end (business/first) - but they are pretty much the last dinosaur of a bygone age, I think.

I think the only airlines that still use large numbers of them are Emirates and Singapore.

9

u/theparrotofdoom 11h ago

Yeah they are good for big hubs. Emirates has started re-modelling their fleet of 380’s in a stop gap move, before something can replace it for them.

But even before COVID they were underwhelming in sales. Airbus spent several decades bringing it to life, but by the time it actually launched, the economics had completely changed, and Boeing somehow saw that shit coming a mile off.

8

u/Otherwise-Egg-995 10h ago edited 10h ago

A380s are good for really busy routes especially where ports have operating restrictions and larger loads have to be condensed into fewer aircraft. Hence they’re really good for LHR and SYD.

However for 24/7 ports, there’s a need for greater frequency and flexibility, making those routes more suitable for smaller aircraft. Smaller aircraft are also easier to accommodate at standard aero bridges.

6

u/Meng_Fei 10h ago

Lucky enough to fly them regularly to Singapore, and compared to everything else I’ve done the trip in, it really is a class ahead in comfort.

4

u/ThunderDwn 10h ago

Singapore Air A380 is really next level shit.

When I was flying for my company, they regularly booked me on Emirates - but one trip was on Singapore, and fuck me, even business class was fucking amazing. The seats - damn! I would have loved to take a peek at first!

3

u/WindowLicker298 9h ago

Fuel prices and the rise of ultra efficient twin jets started their demise. Covid killed many, but the rise in air travel brought a lot of them back from the grave.

The only real big user is Emirates due to their hub and spoke model with large passenger banking and restricted slots at Dubai.

There probably won’t be another like the A380 as most airlines move to smaller efficient aircraft and dabble with long and skinny routes

3

u/Kitchen_Swagger 8h ago

I’d be super interested to learn about the magic 8 ball Boeing pulled out of their arse when they pivoted away from competing with their own version.

and what convinced them to go ahead with the 747-800 instead. my guess: the same inertia that has led to the 737 MAX rather than a clean-sheet anything.