Qantas has scheduled one-time service to Orlando with an A380 on January 19, 2020. The route is SYD-LAX-MCO with the return set for January 24, 2020.

Thanks to airlineroute for the info.
https://twitter.com/Airlineroute/status ... 92193?s=20

- Miami

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. It's too bad this isnt permanent, but I'll take a one off to see this bird land here.

What's happening in Orlando that requires a 380 from Qantas of all airlines?

And the reason behind this one off is what?

Pretty cool to see an A380 in Orlando, even cooler to see a Qantas A380. Hope there are plenty of pictures. I concur, what is the reason for this one-off?

Maybe Qantas is taking lessons from Emirates?

Cruise ship heading down South for the season, filled mainly with Australian and Kiwi passengers?

Now if only we can get the airport officials to allow us a good location for photographing it when it comes in. I would expect a 35R landing. Most of the international heavies land there - and during January the winds are usually from the north - providing the southern approach. There are a few great locations along an adjacent road (Heintzelman) to spot from - but airport security is very strict about not allowing cars or pedestrians in the area. I have been lucky enough to stop on the side of the area and snap some shots before being told to leave. One is posted below.

canyonblue17 wrote:

Now if only we can get the airport officials to allow us a good location for photographing it when it comes in. I would expect a 35R landing. Most of the international heavies land there - and during January the winds are usually from the north - providing the southern approach. There are a few great locations along an adjacent road (Heintzelman) to spot from - but airport security is very strict about not allowing cars or pedestrians in the area. I have been lucky enough to stop on the side of the area and snap some shots before being told to leave. One is posted below.

Yes, but it's an A380. I believe only 18R-36L can handle an A380. Possobly 18L-36R. Those runways are wider, also. They're 3,000 ft longer as well

This is my hometown airport and I am "fired up" for this! So, will it sit on the ground nearly for a whole week?

Simply awesome for people to have this opportunity to head to Oceania with

Qantas.

canyonblue17 wrote:

Now if only we can get the airport officials to allow us a good location for photographing it when it comes in. I would expect a 35R landing. Most of the international heavies land there - and during January the winds are usually from the north - providing the southern approach. There are a few great locations along an adjacent road (Heintzelman) to spot from - but airport security is very strict about not allowing cars or pedestrians in the area. I have been lucky enough to stop on the side of the area and snap some shots before being told to leave. One is posted below.

At the risk of going completely off topic:

In some cities, the airline photographers / enthusiasts have reached out to airport security, and created "trusted spotter" programs, where people who regularly spend time near the fences get ID cards, and agree to contact airport security if they see anything suspicious. These programs are a win/win, because airport security gets additional manpower along the airport perimeter for free, and the people who spot and photograph responsibly don't have to worry about airport security asking them to leave.

If airport security is strict at MCO, you and your friends should reach out to security, and offer to work with them to set up a program like this. This would ensure that when the A380 arrives, you'll be able to take as many photos as you'd like!

Ishrion wrote:

crownvic wrote:

This is my hometown airport and I am "fired up" for this! So, will it sit on the ground nearly for a whole week?

I feel like I read somewhere once it lands in MCO it’ll return to LAX as an empty flight... might be wrong though, will need to find where I read that...

I’m sure the aircraft would go back to LAX straight away. They sit on the ground in LAX for most of the day. Suprised QF don’t do more charters around the US with them - I supposed there isn’t huge demand for large scale 380 charters out of AU, that would avoid cabotage issues

readytotaxi wrote:

And the reason behind this one off is what?

This looks like it coincides with school holidays. Probably families buying a package and going double Disney, Land and World.

School Holidays - Western Division Saturday, 21 December 2019 Monday, 3 February 2020
School Holidays - Eastern Division Saturday, 21 December 2019 Monday, 27 January 2020

Is it a charity event like BAs Dreamflight?

Probably a large corporate flying out staff for a conference/reward celebration. Flight Centre in particular is well known for doing things like this, though some of the banks & insurers have also done these sorts of things in the past, but wouldn't be 'good optics' ATM with the banking Royal Commission still fresh in people's memories...

Would almost make more sense to do it the following year since 2021 is Disney World's 50th Anniversary. But ya never know what the airlines will be doing that year for that event.

rj777 wrote:

Would almost make more sense to do it the following year since 2021 is Disney World's 50th Anniversary. But ya never know what the airlines will be doing that year for that event.

Qantas isn’t just flying to Orlando for laughs. It’s a charter customer who, like almost everyone else, probably couldn’t care less about Disney’s birthday.

pbodyphoto wrote:

rj777 wrote:

Would almost make more sense to do it the following year since 2021 is Disney World's 50th Anniversary. But ya never know what the airlines will be doing that year for that event.

Qantas isn’t just flying to Orlando for laughs. It’s a charter customer who, like almost everyone else, probably couldn’t care less about Disney’s birthday.

So true! It is funny cause there are some who actually try to do only Orlando trips cause they are so consumed with everything Disney.

I guess there are far worse vices to have though!

smi0006 wrote:

Ishrion wrote:

crownvic wrote:

This is my hometown airport and I am "fired up" for this! So, will it sit on the ground nearly for a whole week?

I feel like I read somewhere once it lands in MCO it’ll return to LAX as an empty flight... might be wrong though, will need to find where I read that...

I’m sure the aircraft would go back to LAX straight away. They sit on the ground in LAX for most of the day. Suprised QF don’t do more charters around the US with them - I supposed there isn’t huge demand for large scale 380 charters out of AU, that would avoid cabotage issues

NOTE: qantas has a large maintenance facility at LAX where they rotate the A380s through for scheduled/more lengthy maintenance during the 15hr layovers in LAX. They are not 'readily available' for more flying/charters around the US. The qantas A380s generally only spend around 3-5hrs on ground in SYD or MEL in OZ. LAX is their main maintenance port.

QF17/18 operating this flight is the additional SYD-LAX rotation operating in DEC-JAN. it’s entirly possible they could leave the aircraft at MCO for 3-4 days.

melpax wrote:

Probably a large corporate flying out staff for a conference/reward celebration. Flight Centre in particular is well known for doing things like this, though some of the banks & insurers have also done these sorts of things in the past, but wouldn't be 'good optics' ATM with the banking Royal Commission still fresh in people's memories...

Don't know who it is, but I do know it's not Flight Centre. The Global Gathering is in July in Las Vegas.

My guess is a cruise ship charter. Back when QF had LHR served via SIN, HKG and BKK, and as well as SIN FRA, they had a lot
of 744s in Europe most of the day doing nothing. They did do a bit of work from the LHR crew base with cruise ship charters
taking ppl to Italy and Greece so it's not without precedent. Plus the Australia/New Zealand market have really discovered
cruising in the last few years in a big way. If this flight is bookable they'd have to be connecting to other QF services at lax (would be
different if it was international ex lax). If it were just for a big company it might show in the GDS but it wouldn't be bookable.

ZK-NBT wrote:

QF17/18 operating this flight is the additional SYD-LAX rotation operating in DEC-JAN. it’s entirly possible they could leave the aircraft at MCO for 3-4 days.

BUT an A380 is also being introduced DAILY on QF127/128 SYD/HKG/SYD during the DEC-MAR holiday season so I think the aircraft will position straight back to LAX for a return service to Australia. Then another A380 will position LAX-MCO on the day it is needed to carry passengers back to LAX (and beyond). Having an A380 parked/out of service during the A380 fleets busiest time of year in MCO for 3-4days is basically not possible. You need to look at the 'big picture' of the A380 FLEET extra utilization at that time of year.

undertheradar wrote:

ZK-NBT wrote:

QF17/18 operating this flight is the additional SYD-LAX rotation operating in DEC-JAN. it’s entirly possible they could leave the aircraft at MCO for 3-4 days.

BUT an A380 is also being introduced DAILY on QF127/128 SYD/HKG/SYD during the DEC-MAR holiday season so I think the aircraft will position straight back to LAX for a return service to Australia. Then another A380 will position LAX-MCO on the day it is needed to carry passengers back to LAX (and beyond). Having an A380 parked/out of service during the A380 fleets busiest time of year in MCO for 3-4days is basically not possible. You need to look at the 'big picture' of the A380 FLEET extra utilization at that time of year.

Just looking at the QF schedules and I can’t see QF17/18 on the dates of this charter so maybe not books le at all?

Hard to know, QF would have enough frames to leave 1 on the ground for those 5 days even with daily HKG. It depends weather it’s more cost effective to leave it at MCO or maybe even position it back to LAX for maintenance.

Even in peak summer still have slack in the A380 fleet: QF1/2 (3), QF11/12 (2), QF93/94 (2), QF7/8 (2), QF127/128 (1), QF35/36 (1) = 11/12

RyanairGuru wrote:

Even in peak summer still have slack in the A380 fleet: QF1/2 (3), QF11/12 (2), QF93/94 (2), QF7/8 (2), QF127/128 (1), QF35/36 (1) = 11/12

They also run for several weeks in DEC-JAN QF17/18 SYD-LAX 2 weekly which uses .5 of a frame operates Friday and Sunday ex SYD usually so from Friday evening to when it returns on Tuesday morning all 12 are in use.

melpax wrote:

Probably a large corporate flying out staff for a conference/reward celebration. Flight Centre in particular is well known for doing things like this, though some of the banks & insurers have also done these sorts of things in the past, but wouldn't be 'good optics' ATM with the banking Royal Commission still fresh in people's memories...

I can't imagine a corporate event/conference taking place during Xmas. This strikes me as your basic one time holiday charter.

If this A380 heads back to LAX right after it dropped the passengers in MCO, how are these passengers going back to Australia? On another chartered airplane to LAX which is not QF?

A388

airbazar wrote:

I can't imagine a corporate event/conference taking place during Xmas. This strikes me as your basic one time holiday charter.

It isn't over Christmas though.

Miami wrote:

Qantas has scheduled one-time service to Orlando with an A380 on January 19, 2020. The route is SYD-LAX-MCO with the return set for January 24, 2020.

Thanks to airlineroute for the info.
https://twitter.com/Airlineroute/status ... 92193?s=20

- Miami

Being late January & in the last couple of weeks before most schools start up for the year, could still be a corporate charter, but might be more of a 'bring your family to Disney' as a reward/bonus, etc, instead of the usual Vegas booze-ups which are not a good look these days for those in Banking/finance, etc. Corporate business in Australia basically finishes for the year on Christmas Eve, and starts up again after the Australia Day Holiday on 26 January, which is a Sunday, so Monday the 27th is a public holiday. A 24/1 departure from LAX will mean that those corporate types will be back at their desks in Melbourne/Sydney/Brisbane, etc on Tuesday 28/1.

Folks would fly over on the normal scheduled QF flights from east coast OZ-LAX & would probably return the same way.

A388 wrote:

If this A380 heads back to LAX right after it dropped the passengers in MCO, how are these passengers going back to Australia? On another chartered airplane to LAX which is not QF?

A388

sending another 380 from LAX to pick them up.

An update on who exactly will be on the flight: https://onemileatatime.com/qantas-woolworths/?fbclid=IwAR2XWTlfJ9LlDzrpgkXxQnuKDys_daw4czaseIa81t5HCQboLhzag6jT7q0

Well that is a pretty cool promotion...some random families are going to win a trip of a lifetime for 30 bucks!

PUBLIX sweepstakes for a trip to Australia in 3...2...1

2 days away...I don't see it posted yet on future flightaware, just the SYD-LAX portion on 1/19/2020. anyone have any updates?

undertheradar wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

Ishrion wrote:

I feel like I read somewhere once it lands in MCO it’ll return to LAX as an empty flight... might be wrong though, will need to find where I read that...

I’m sure the aircraft would go back to LAX straight away. They sit on the ground in LAX for most of the day. Suprised QF don’t do more charters around the US with them - I supposed there isn’t huge demand for large scale 380 charters out of AU, that would avoid cabotage issues

NOTE: qantas has a large maintenance facility at LAX where they rotate the A380s through for scheduled/more lengthy maintenance during the 15hr layovers in LAX. They are not 'readily available' for more flying/charters around the US. The qantas A380s generally only spend around 3-5hrs on ground in SYD or MEL in OZ. LAX is their main maintenance port.

H

Is it cheaper to work in the us vs au.?

Thunderbolt500 asked:

Is it cheaper to work in the us vs au.?

I can't answer that BUT even if it is cheaper in LAX, that is not the reason for doing the maintance there, they'd problery still do it there if it was dearer BECAUSE the layover is dictated by timetable considerations. The only practical arriveral time into LAX from Australia are, roughly, 06:00 to about 10:00 with departure times around 21:00 to 23:00. There are several reasons for this. One is it allows connections to nearly, all of North America & reasonable connections on the Australian end. The 22;00 departure allows connections from all over North America & given it's arrival time in SYD easy connections to most of Australia.
You could do a reasonable turnaround of , say, 2:00 hours which would give a departure time of around 11:00 to 12:00 which would not allow much in the way of connections. The latest you can leave LAX for SYD is about 13:00 due to the SYD curfew. In fact QF used to have a flight, QF8 which left LAX around 13:00 or so and got into SYD about 20:45 [IIRC] which was great if SYD was your final destination but again limits connections, but it is worth noting this was the first flight QF cut in any traffic down turn.
But the major reason is because the preimum market [First & Business] demands it. They like early arrivals & late departues to enable a full business day.

Gemuser

crownvic wrote:

2 days away...I don't see it posted yet on future flightaware, just the SYD-LAX portion on 1/19/2020. anyone have any updates?

QF17 on FR24.

IF I'm reading that correctly...looks to be arriving MCO around 3:30pm.....but the weather doesn't look good...for BOTH days!

I'm old enough to remember when Airbus brought the A380 into MCO on tour back in 2007.

Flying across the world to go to one of the most overpriced amusement parks in the world?

Must be nice to have that kind of money.

smokeybandit wrote:

Flying across the world to go to one of the most overpriced amusement parks in the world?

Must be nice to have that kind of money.

You realize this for winners of a sweepstakes, correct? The passengers are not buying the tickets for the flight, amusement park, or hotel rooms.

Must be nice to have their luck though.

727LOVER wrote:

canyonblue17 wrote:

Now if only we can get the airport officials to allow us a good location for photographing it when it comes in. I would expect a 35R landing. Most of the international heavies land there - and during January the winds are usually from the north - providing the southern approach. There are a few great locations along an adjacent road (Heintzelman) to spot from - but airport security is very strict about not allowing cars or pedestrians in the area. I have been lucky enough to stop on the side of the area and snap some shots before being told to leave. One is posted below.

Yes, but it's an A380. I believe only 18R-36L can handle an A380. Possobly 18L-36R. Those runways are wider, also. They're 3,000 ft longer as well

If it hasnt changed A380s are only allowed to operate on 60m wide runways. 45m runways are only allowed when the Grass/surface next to the runway is fixed. This is the case at my hometown Airport HAM, where A380s operate on a scheduled basis on 45m wide runways.

But with MCO having two 60m runways, why should they use the narrower ones even if the Grass is fixed what I dont think.

Polot wrote:

smokeybandit wrote:

Flying across the world to go to one of the most overpriced amusement parks in the world?

Must be nice to have that kind of money.

You realize this for winners of a sweepstakes, correct? The passengers are not buying the tickets for the flight, amusement park, or hotel rooms.

Must be nice to have their luck though.

Ah, didn't realize that.

So yes, must be nice to have that kind of luck

Polot wrote:

smokeybandit wrote:

Flying across the world to go to one of the most overpriced amusement parks in the world?

Must be nice to have that kind of money.

You realize this for winners of a sweepstakes, correct? The passengers are not buying the tickets for the flight, amusement park, or hotel rooms.

Must be nice to have their luck though.

If they were paying for it, they would probably fly with them



https://www.crystalcruises.com/crystal-air
https://www.businessinsider.com/crystal ... res-2017-8
https://www.planespotters.net/airline/C ... Luxury-Air
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTI32vAZAls

smokeybandit wrote:

Polot wrote:

smokeybandit wrote:

Flying across the world to go to one of the most overpriced amusement parks in the world?

Must be nice to have that kind of money.

You realize this for winners of a sweepstakes, correct? The passengers are not buying the tickets for the flight, amusement park, or hotel rooms.

Must be nice to have their luck though.

Ah, didn't realize that.

So yes, must be nice to have that kind of luck

Actually this flight should be dubbed "Woolworths Express". Woolworths is one of the 2 main supermarket chains here in Australia of which you can earn QFF points at Woolworths. They ran a competition earlier in the year where 116 people would win a trip to Disneyworld for 4 people. Essentially you got an entry into the competition everytime you spent $30 or more. Woolworths has a loyalty program called Everyday Rewards which you can link your QFF number to. Provided you spent the minimum you just had to scan your card to enter the draw. From day to day shopping the Woolworths Everyday Rewards you earn a point for every $1 spent, once 2000 points are earnt you can either convert to $10 off your next shop or convert to QFF points which is 1000 points. They also offer bonus points all the time, previously before Christmas they throw points at you, I know I have earnt around 10000 QFF points in just over a month or so previously

LOL...where is Clipper136 to say...DEF landing on 16R/36L


Is that runway currently open?