Qantas Uses A380 and Q400 on SYD-MEL

[Oliver Gigacz]

QANTAS is using an Airbus A380 for the first time on a domestic commercial flight to help clear a backlog of passengers affected by Melbourne's weather.

The airline says it will take most of the day to clear the backlog, caused by wild weather last night which prompted three closures of Melbourne Airport and caused gridlock as aircraft were unable to find gates and passengers were stuck on planes .

Domestic passengers were today bussed to the A380 to take the 11.55am flight from Sydney, which will continue on from Melbourne as QF9 to Singapore and London after arriving in Melbourne about 1.30pm.

A Qantas spokeswoman said the weather prompted the cancellation of seven flights from the Victorian capital.

"It's impacted at least 1000 passengers in Melbourne and then its had a roll-on effect to the other ports," she said.

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"So it's going to take us the best part of the day to clear passengers out of Melbourne today and we've got delays of some half hour and some for an hour."

The airline also ran QantasLink turboprop flights between Melbourne and Sydney this morning and brought in an additional Boeing 737-800 jet to help clear the backlog.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/qantas-uses-a380-in-domestic-first-to-help-clear-passenger-backlog-caused-by-melbourne-weather/story-e6frg95x-1226151411130

This is the first time that any airline has used the A380 for domestic operations.

[Oliver Gigacz]

Flight is QF6161, and is being operated by VH-OQJ.

She has been delayed, but according to the Qantas flight tracker, she has now departed and expected into MEL at 14:05.

Her arrival gate is showing T1 - D9, but isn't D9 at T2?

[Oliver Gigacz]

She is now showing a Gate 21 arrival, this must be a mistake. Can an A380 even fit into Gate 21.

I know 744s can use Gate 11, 21 and 23

[Arthur T]

Can anyone tell me who can sit on the First and Premium Economy seats on the A380 and how did the ground crew managed to get all the passengers on board?

Furthermore I heard some passengers stranded for more than 20 hours. I just wondering why Buses weren't called to replace planes between Sydney and Melbourne, or from a neighbouring airport, such as Albury if possible by weather?

Albury is just 3 hours away from Melbourne and all flights can simply land and terminate at Albury then "Flight Bus"es will carry passengers to/from Melbourne Airport?

[Brian Wilkes]

You paid to fly, not to drive!

[Mick F]

And not being an expert of Albury, but I dare say anything more than 2 737's and they'd be at peak capacity!

Mick

[Andrew Johnson]

Is ABX big enough for a fully loaded 737 ?

Think biggest aircraft in past at ABX was a BAe146 (East-West).

[Anthony T]

ABX is big enough for a B737, but E190 is the largest they get these days, the 737's would probably go to Canberra.

[Ash W]

The pictures I saw on the news showed an A380 being loaded by buses. Wouldn't think that would be too hard provided they used multiple doors.

[Paul f.]

Didnt know buses could load aircraft:p

[Anthony T]

Didnt know buses could load aircraft

Yep, Washington Dulles used to use them, I went on one in the mid '80's while boarding a PA 747.

It connected to the terminal, you boarded the mobile gate lounge, which was raised to terminal level like a scissor jack on a catering truck, after it disconnected from the terminal, it was lowered and driven to an aircraft on a remote stand, the lounge was then raised up to aircraft door level and you boarded the aircraft. The vehicle carried about 120 pax at a time.

http://www.virtualtravelog.net/wp/wp-content/gallery/vt-import/2003-02-PlaneMate.jpg

[Jon Harris]

Great pic Anthony - what a groovy way to board a plane! Loved seeing these in the Airport 75/80 movies.

Does Washington Dulles still use this type of boarding?

Montreal Mirabel airport had a virtually identical boarding system.

[Nigel C]

I look at that bus arrangement and think....

LEMMINGS!!!!!!

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k193/badboypass/Lemmings.gif
http://photoshopcontest.com/images/fullsize/d39uemq7vy6zwykx34vuoaliq1cl4e5yeh13.gif

[Ash W]

Yep Dulles does still use the bus thingy's on some gates.

[Arthur T]

Re Brian: I know we are paid to fly, but at the end you just want to get from Sydney to Melbourne quickly.
The idea was copied from NSW Transport | CityRail. When the line is "Part Suspended" they will use buses to replace trains. So if an airline route is "Part Suspended" like that and it is likely for some passengers to get stranded for more than 10 hours, then would an emergency replacement service be viable to satisfy the claims to carry passengers quickly to Melbourne anyway?

[Mick F]

I would rather spend 48hrs extra at my point of origin, than spend 10hrs on a bus!