Australian flag carrier Qantas was forced to use one of its double-deck Airbus A380 superjumbos on a domestic one-hour flight on Friday afternoon after bad weather wreaked havoc on the airline’s normal schedule.
In anticipation of the impending storm, Airservices Australia limited the number of departures and arrivals into Sydney, forcing airlines to proactively cancel flights. However, Qantas devised a unique solution to get passengers to their intended destination.
Normally, Qantas would simply rebook impacted passengers onto alternative flights, but with Taylor Swift playing her sold-out Eras Tour concert in Sydney for the first time in Sydney on Friday, spare seats on alternative flights were in short supply.
Qantas pointed out, however, that the passengers rebooked onto the A380 superjumbo service were unlikely to have been travelling to Sydney to see Taylor Swift due to the time they were meant to be departing in the first place.
With the ability to carry 485 passengers, the A380 replaced the equivalent of nearly three Boeing 737s that normally operate the short hop between Melbourne and Sydney.
Normally used for some of Qantas’ longest flights, the airline said it had an ‘operational standby’ aircraft available which would normally be used to cover if another A380 in somewhere like London or Los Angeles had a maintenance issue.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Qantas noted: “Our operations teams across our domestic and international network have done a fantastic job to quickly find a solution that ensures customers can still get to Sydney today despite forecast severe weather.”
“All customers who are impacted have been contacted and provided information on their new flight details.”
