The Airbus A380 has sprung back into life as travel demand recovers following the sudden halt caused by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Many airlines grounded their fleets in March 2020, with the A380 superjumbo, the world’s largest passenger plane, the first given its passenger volume and high running costs.
But as people around the world gradually started travelling again and airlines brought their fleets back up to size, how straightforward was it to get an A380 up and running again after months sitting idle?
The short answer is it is not easy, while the longer answer has been provided recently by Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce.
The Australian airline parked all 12 of its A380s in June 2020 and plans to bring 10 of them back to meet passenger demand.
Mr Joyce explained what it entails to get the superjumbo back in the skies.
“Just to wake up an A380 is 4,500 hours, or two months, of manpower,” he said.
“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.”
“The aircraft is put up on jacks in the middle of the desert. It’s gear is tested, the aircraft’s engines are run in the desert to make sure that they’re all functioning. That’s just to get out of the desert to Los Angeles or to another maintenance facility.
“When the aircraft’s flown out, most of the aircraft then go through 100 days of maintenance on top of that,” Mr Joyce said.
Qantas came within 11 weeks of financial collapse at the height of the pandemic, Mr Joyce said last week.
According to Cirium, a UK aviation data and analytics company, an estimated inactive inventory of about 17,000 widebody, narrowbody and regional jets were in storage in March 2020. That's equivalent to more than 60 per cent of the world's fleet.
In March 2020, when coronavirus restrictions hit, Dubai-based Emirates, the biggest operator of the A380, parked up 218 of its entire fleet of 270 aircraft.
The A380s and Boeing 777s were split between Dubai World Central, where 117 jets were sent, and Dubai International Airport, which took 101 of the wide-body fleet.
Once parked, every engine, wheel and tail had to be covered by Emirates crew, an operation that took 15,500 hours of work.
Once the jets are wrapped up, there's more to be done. Engineering teams complete checks on the jets every seven, 15 and 30 days.
Emirates plans to increase its operating capacity to 80 per cent by the end of this year.
It has just started a retrofitting project on many of its A380s, which will include premium-economy seats.
In February 2019, Airbus announced it would end production of the A380.
Emirates received the last manufactured A380 in December last year.
Conceived in the early 1990s, the A380 was unveiled in December 2000 and entered commercial service on October 25, 2007, with Singapore Airlines.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Greatest Royal Rumble match listing
50-man Royal Rumble - names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
WWE World Heavyweight ChampionshipAJ Styles (champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt
Casket match The Undertaker v Rusev
Singles match John Cena v Triple H
Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v Kalisto
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RESULT
Valencia 3
Kevin Gameiro 21', 51'
Ferran Torres 67'
Atlanta 4
Josip Llicic 3' (P), 43' (P), 71', 82'
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Overview
What: The Arab Women’s Sports Tournament is a biennial multisport event exclusively for Arab women athletes.
When: From Sunday, February 2, to Wednesday, February 12.
Where: At 13 different centres across Sharjah.
Disciplines: Athletics, archery, basketball, fencing, Karate, table tennis, shooting (rifle and pistol), show jumping and volleyball.
Participating countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Qatar and UAE.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Company profile
Name: Fruitful Day
Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2015
Number of employees: 30
Sector: F&B
Funding so far: Dh3 million
Future funding plans: None at present
Future markets: Saudi Arabia, potentially Kuwait and other GCC countries
Graduated from the American University of Sharjah
She is the eldest of three brothers and two sisters
Has helped solve 15 cases of electric shocks
Enjoys travelling, reading and horse riding
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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West Asia Premiership
Dubai Hurricanes 58-10 Dubai Knights Eagles
Dubai Tigers 5-39 Bahrain
Jebel Ali Dragons 16-56 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Results
5.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: Al Battar, Mickael Barzalona (jockey), Salem bin Ghadayer (trainer).
6.05pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,200m; Winner: Good Fighter, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
6.40pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: Way Of Wisdom, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
7.15pm: Handicap Dh170,000 (D) 2,200m; Winner: Immortalised, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
7.50pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (T) 2,000m; Winner: Franz Kafka, James Doyle, Simon Crisford.
8.25pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Mayadeen, Connor Beasley, Doug Watson.
9pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Chiefdom, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer
