Can anyone tell me why there appears to be 2x Qantas A380's permantly parked at Heathrow? I fly out of Heathrow at least once a month and they are parked in the same place every time and have been for months.
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Maybe still fixing the cracks? there were a lot of Emirates ones grounded at Dubai for a long time.
And welcome!
Phil -
In most (but not all) cases this is simply a question freeing-up the A380 stands for other traffic.
Terminal 3 (for example) only has a limited number of A380 compatible gates.
This comes about when an arrival is not immediately re-dispatched - as is the case with QF (Qantas), SQ (Singapore) and several other longhaul operators.
On such occasions the craft are towed away to a parking apron and then towed back to the gate some hours later. These arrangements are in place daily so .. if you are travelling during those hours when they are parked .. it will seem as if they are 'always' there.
The Qantas 380 flights (for example) arrive in the morning but do not depart till later in the day.
Qantas Airbus A380-842 VH-OQB as seen at London Heathrow on 19th August 2009Comment
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That probably explains it, I get flights to ATL with either BA or Delta and both flights leave around lunchtime.Comment
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