Scheduling an Airbus A380 on a service that would normally see the Boeing 737-800, Qantas is boosting its capacity in order to transport more customers due to flights canceled as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle. This move comes amid Air New Zealand's recent decision to walk-back its ambitious plans to resume services.
Over twice as many seats
With 485 seats across four classes, a Qantas A380 registered VH-OQJ completed a round-trip between Sydney and Auckland today. Operating as QF143 to Auckland, and QF146 back to Sydney, the superjumbo was dispatched in order to provide more capacity and transport stranded customers who had earlier flights canceled due to the storm system.
According to FlightRadar24.com data, the aircraft departed Sydney at 10:53 local time and arrived in Auckland at 15:32. With turnaround taking less than an hour, the aircraft departed Auckland at 18:22 and arrived back in Sydney at 19:09 local time. Flight durations each way were around two hours and 40 minutes.
Air New Zealand's delayed restart
Perhaps affected the most by tropical storm Gabrielle, Air New Zealand's operations were crippled as it canceled flights across its network. The airline stated on its website that 10,000 international customers were disrupted, with more than half needing to be rebooked as of February 13th.
Initially, the carrier had an ambitious goal to resume domestic services on Tuesday but later had to postpone this plan as the weather remained unsuitable. Indeed, according to Australian Aviation, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins had declared a national emergency, urging affected Kiwis to avoid all non-essential travel and stay at home.
According to its most recent post to Twitter (at the time of this article's publication), the airline is "back reconnecting our regions, and New Zealand with the world, as we resume flights from all ports." In subsequent posts, the airline added that it was continuing to reaccommodate the large number of disrupted customers, doing so with the addition of more flights and larger aircraft where possible. This plan was reiterated on the airline's website, with Air New Zealand's Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty stating:
"As we did during the Auckland flooding, we will be adding larger aircraft to routes, working with our star alliance partners, converting cargo flights to passenger flights, and adding additional services where possible into the ports where we need them the most".
If we look at the latest FlightRadar24.com schedule data, we can see evidence of diverted aircraft returning (or scheduled to return) to their New Zealand home, as special flight numbers fill the roster. Flight number NZ6063 sees the return of 777-300ERs from Sydney and Melbourne, while flight NZ6065 saw another 777-300ER return from Auckland to Melbourne. Originating in Auckland, flight NZ6061/NZ6062 appears to be an additional 787-9 service to Sydney for February 15th.
Were your flights affected by the storm? Have you successfully rebooked and completed your trip? Share your experiences by leaving a comment.
Sources: Australian Aviation, FlightRadar24.com,
Qantas has been flying the Boeing 787-9 from Darwin and Sydney to Delhi, India. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying Qantas
- IATA/ICAO Code:
- QF/QFA
- Airline Type:
- Full Service Carrier
- Hub(s):
- Brisbane Airport, Melbourne Airport, Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport
- Year Founded:
- 1920
- Alliance:
- oneworld
- CEO:
- Alan Joyce
- Country:
- Australia
