Qantas returns mothballed A380s early in vote of confidence for travel demand

By Patrick HatchUpdated November 5, 2021 â€" 5.18pmfirst published at 10.13am

Qantas has accelerated plans to return its mothballed flagship Airbus A380 fleet to Australia as a rush of international bookings buoys its expectations of demand for overseas flights next year.

Chief executive Alan Joyce told the airline’s annual general meeting on Friday that international bookings had been patchy since the border opened on Monday, with strong demand from Australians returning home before Christmas. “Going in the other direction you’ll find that aircraft are relatively empty,” he said.

But there was enough interest for Qantas to further accelerate the return of its flagship A380 superjumbos, after putting them in deep storage at Los Angeles’ LAX airport early in the pandemic with the intention to leave them there until late 2023.

Qantas’ A380 superjumbos have been parked in the California since early in the pandemic. Credit:AP

Along with two of the 484-seat, double-decker jets entering service on Sydney-Los Angeles flights in April, three more will now return and fly to London - which was previously slated to happen by November - while a sixth A380 will now return to service by the end of 2022.

“That shows the confidence we have in getting our flagship aircraft back in the air,” Mr Joyce said.

There were doubts about whether Qantas would ever fly its A380s superjumbos again after it mothballed its fleet of 12 early in the pandemic. International carriers including Lufthansa and Air France decided to permanently retire the jets during the COVID-19 crisis. The jets had already lost favour with airlines, which opted for smaller and more fuel-efficient jets, and in 2019 Airbus announced it would stop building them.

Qantas will, however, retire two of the 12, having decided they are surplus to future requirements. The first Qantas A380 to return to Australia will arrive in Sydney next week, so crew can commence refresher training, Mr Joyce said, confirming reports in this masthead.

With Western Australia announcing its border re-opening plans on Friday, there is now a road map for the full return of domestic travel. But Mr Joyce warned travellers would be put off by a “patchwork of entry conditions”, including having to take PCR COVID tests before entering Queensland, WA and Tasmania at a cost of around $150 each.

“That is frustrating for vaccinated travellers, who would reasonably expect they can move freely and easily,” he said. “Surely that’s something we’ve all earned.”

NSW and Victoria lifted quarantine requirements for vaccinated Australians flying into the country on Monday. And on Thursday night the two states fully removed all remaining cross-border restrictions for vaccinated residents.

Qantas said it had sold around 500,000 domestic fares in the past two weeks, compared to around 22,000 during two weeks in August.

Shareholders overwhelming supported most resolutions at the AGM, including the re-election of directors Belinda Hutchinson, Tony Tyler and Todd Sampson, with around 99 per cent of the vote going in favour.

But there was a relatively large 10 per cent protest vote against its executive pay report, with questions from shareholders about why the company paid out executive bonuses while reporting a $1.7 billion statutory loss.

Qantas chairman Richard Goyder told the meeting that while Qantas had delivered negative shareholder returns, it fared “a heck of a lot better” than almost every other airline in the world during the pandemic.

“And that’s because of the work that Alan and the executive team has put in to make sure we went into the pandemic in good shape, and we come through it in good shape,” he said.

Qantas paid $1.5 million in long-term bonuses to senior executives last year. It offered another $1.8 million to Mr Joyce, but for the second year in a row the CEO said he would wait a year before deciding whether to accept the bonus.

Proxy advisor ISS recommended shareholders vote against Qantas’ remuneration report because of the “material misalignment with the affairs of the company, employees and shareholders”.

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