Qantas A380 Grounded After First Flight in 6 Years: Because a Part Of Its Wing Fell Off

The triumphant return of the last Qantas Airbus A380 superjumbo from long-term storage in a Persian Gulf desert to commercial passenger service has not gone to plan after part of the plane’s wing fell off mid-flight.

The aircraft had been in long-term storage for nearly six years and had just undergone a massive 100,000-hour maintenance overhaul and complete interior refit to prepare it for its return to service.

After just one passenger flight, the aircraft is once again grounded as Qantas engineers race to fix the wing and sort out Gremlins in the plane’s in-flight entertainment system.

Qantas A380 superjumbo grounded after first commercial flight

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Australian flag carrier Qantas grounded its fleet of Airbus A380 superjumbos and placed them into long-term storage. Some went to the Mojave Desert in the United States, while others went to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

As the world reopened and travel demand bounced back, Qantas returned its double-deck A380s to commercial service, but it wasn’t until earlier this month that the last of the airline’s superjumbo fleet was finally taken out of the desert.

The aircraft is 17 years old and is named after one of the Qantas founders, Paul McGinness. During the month of December, it was due to operate as an operational spare, giving Qantas some ‘wiggle room’ should one of its other nine A380s have a maintenance issue.

Officially, the aircraft was returned to the operational control of Qantas on December 5 but it wasn’t until last Sunday that the plane was used on a normal passenger service between Sydney and Los Angeles.

As the plane came into land in Sydney, however, passenger Lynn Gilmartin took a photo of what appeared to be a hole in the left-hand wing, along with ‘rip marks’ around the hole.

A spokesperson for Qantas told aviation blog 2PAXfly: “A section of the slat on the left wing of one of our A380s was found to be damaged after landing in Los Angeles… The aircraft operated normally and landed without incident. Engineers are now replacing the slat so it can return to operations.”

As of December 10, the aircraft remains grounded in Los Angeles.

The in-flight entertainment was also not functioning

Unfortunately, the damaged slat wasn’t the only issue on the plane’s first commercial flight in nearly six years. Lynn also noted that an electrical problem in the cabin resulted in myriad problems for the passengers and crew aboard flight QF-11.

• In-flight entertainment screens went blank.
• Ceiling lights went dark.
• Seats in Business Class couldn’t be electrically reclined.
• Some of the lavatories even started to overflow.

These kinds of issues do sound consistent with a widespread electrical problem affecting the passenger cabin, as many of these services are interconnected, and just one loose wire could have been responsible for all of these problems.

The aircraft had undergone a massive overhaul in Abu Dhabi

No doubt, Qantas executives are furious with how this has turned out, especially given how happy the airline seemed after the historic return of its last A380 superjumbo.

In preparation for its return, Qantas had tasked Etihad Engineering in Abu Dhabi to carry out a complete overhaul of the plane, marking what the airline describes as its largest maintenance check in the airline’s 105-year history.

Engineers spent a collective 100,000 hours preparing the plane for its return, including a full cabin refurbishment, which was meant to prevent the exact issues that beset Paul McGinness during its ill-fated flight on December 7.

Qantas isn’t the only airline to have had issues with its grounded A380s

Qantas can, at least, find some solace in the fact that it is not the only airline to have had issues with its Airbus A380s after they were placed in long-term storage during the COVID-19 pandemic.

British Airways, in particular, has been known to be struggling with the reliability of its A380 fleet after returning them to service from pandemic-induced storage, and consider that BA didn’t even have its superjumbos in storage for nearly as long as Paul McGinness was grounded.

Some frequent travelers now specifically avoid flying on the A380 over fears that it might suffer a maintenance delay, while crew members are said to have nicknamed the aircraft the ‘A3-Latey.’

Bottom line

The last Qantas A380 superjumbo to return to commercial service has been grounded after just one flight, after the slat on the left-hand wing was badly damaged in-flight.

In addition, electrical problems in the cabin also caused widespread issues, which need to be fixed before the plane can return to service. Thankfully, Qantas has its own maintenance base in Los Angeles, which should make this process slightly easier.

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TOTH: 2PAXfly.com