Returning just one grounded A380 superjumbo back into the air requires 4,500 hours of work, Qantas Airways CEO Alan Joyce said, highlighting the challenge as aviation struggles to meet surging travel demand. Qantas parked all 12 of its Airbus A380s in June 2020 as travel dried up at the start of the pandemic. It’s bringing back 10 of the jets, the world’s largest passenger plane, as international demand rebounds. At a lunchtime speech in Sydney on Monday, Joyce explained the process of reactivating a plane that’s been sitting in the Californian desert for more than two years. “Just to wake up an A38O is 4,500 hours, or two months, of manpower. That’s 10 engineers working for two months in the Mojave Desert -- for one plane. They replace all 22 wheels, all 16 brakes, get rid of all of the oxygen cylinders and fire extinguishers. Everything on board the aircraft is replaced.” <br/>
oneworld
Qantas Airways came within 11 weeks of financial collapse at the height of the pandemic when travel came to a standstill and the airline continued to hemorrhage cash, CEO Alan Joyce said. At a lunchtime speech in Sydney on Monday, Joyce said that in early 2020 he was receiving weekly reports from his finance team that made clear how long the airline’s reserves would last. Qantas’ minimum life expectancy gradually lengthened to two years after it raised capital, sold land and cracked down on expenses, he said. Rival Virgin Australia collapsed at the same time. Joyce’s disclosure in some ways counters criticism that he cut costs -- including more than 8,000 workers -- too aggressively during Covid-19, leaving the airline struggling to cope when demand eventually rebounded. With a shrunken workforce, Qantas has this year been plagued by flight cancellations, lost bags and delays. “People forget how low everything was back in March, April, May, June 2020,” Joyce said. “There was no vaccine. There was no hope that it could be as effective as it was. We had to stare into this 11 weeks of survival.” Qantas has now built in buffers to help service levels get back to normal. There are 20 aircraft set aside and ready to be deployed at any time should operational problems arise, he said.<br/>