Qantas appears to have brought its London Airbus A380 launch forward to June, according to its latest schedule filings. The airline’s website lists the giant of the skies as operating the kangaroo route from Sydney to London starting on June 19th. Just a month ago it was reported that the service would be back up and running by October 2022.

While the Airbus A380 had fallen out of favor with many airlines, it remains a passenger favorite. The giant jet also seems to be slowly regaining favor with airlines. Over the last few months British Airways, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines have all resumed operations with the type. The Australian flag carrier is expected to follow suit in March.

A particularly large kangaroo

Before the COVID-19 pandemic kicked off, the Qantas Airbus A380 was a daily sight at London’s Heathrow Airport, operating Qantas flight QF1 from Sydney via Singapore. Of course, strict travel rules at all three airports meant that this had to come to a halt.

With the A380s out of the picture for the foreseeable future, Qantas sent them to desert storage in Los Angeles. Now, they’re slowly coming back into the picture. Qantas is set to resume Sydney to Los Angeles A380 flights in March, and it seems as though Sydney to London will be back sooner than expected.

Qantas, Airbus A380, London Heathrow
The pandemic forced Qantas to suspend the kangaroo route. Photo: Cirium

Back in London from June

According to schedule data from aviation data experts Cirium, and reflected on Qantas.com, the airline will bring the giant of the skies back to the kangaroo route from June 19th. With the stop in Singapore, the two flights one way take around 24 hours.

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After a 15:55 departure, QF1 gets underway with an eight-hour 20-minute hop to Singapore, landing at 22:15. The jet then stops off in Singapore for one and a half hours to refuel, refresh catering, and swap passengers who only wish to fly on one leg of the flight. After the stopover, the jet returns to the skies at 23:45. It then arrives in London 13 hours and 50 minutes later at 06:50 the next day.

Qantas, Airbus A380, London Heathrow
The Airbus A380 is showing in Qantas' schedules starting on June 19th. Photo: Qantas.com

The Airbus A380 will spend most of the day in London while it undergoes a deep turnaround and the crews are changed, getting airborne at 21:05, and landing 13 hours and 20 minutes later at 17:25 the next day in Singapore. It is then set to depart Singapore at 19:30, touching down a day later in Sydney at 05:10 after a seven-hour 40-minutes flight.

This means that an aircraft departing from Sydney on Sunday afternoon would arrive back on Wednesday morning. A total rotation on the route is set to last two days, 13 hours, and 15 minutes, or 61.25 hours. This means that Qantas will need at least three aircraft to operate its planned daily service on the route.

Are you excited to see the Airbus A380 back in the Qantas Sydney-London schedule in June? Let us know what you think and why in the comments!