Why a grounded Airbus A380 needs 4,500 hours of work to fly again

Qantas chief Alan Joyce explains what is required to get the superjumbo airborne again

Grounded airplanes parked at Tarmac Aerosave in Tarbes, France following a lack of travel during the coronavirus pandemic. Reuters

The sun rises over parked jets in St Athan at eCube Solution's aircraft storage and disassembly facility in Wales. Courtesy eCube

An A380 Airbus airplane sits on the tarmac in Tarbes on June 19, 2020. Reuters

Passenger aircraft operated by Europe's major airlines stand parked in a storage facility operated by Tarmac Aerosave at Teruel Airport in Spain on May 18, 2020. Getty Images

Lufthansa jets were temporarily pulled out of service and parked at Germany's Berlin-Brandenburg Airport during the coronavirus crisis last year. Getty Images

Grounded jets, including Airbus A380s, Boeing Max 8s and other smaller aircraft, are seen at the Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage facility on May 15, 2020 in Alice Springs, Australia. Getty Images

A jogger passes grounded aeroplanes at London City Airport on March 29, 2020 in London, England. Getty Images

Grounded aeroplanes seen at the Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage facility on May 15, 2020 in Alice Springs, Australia. Getty Images

eCube Solutions facility in Castellon, Spain. The company had to increase storage space by more than 40 per cent to cope with the pandemic demand. Courtesy eCube Solutions

As Covid-19 continues to spread across the globe commercial airline travel has all but stopped. Airline jets are grounded at Melbourne Airport due to travel restrictions in Australia. Getty Images

KLM jets parked at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands, April 2, 2020. Reuters

Germany's Lufthansa jets undergo a technical check-up to ensure safety standards after being grounded because of the coronavirus pandemic in Frankfurt, Germany, July 30, 2020. Reuters

Japan Airlines jets on the ground. Reuters

Airplanes parked at Lisbon Airport in Portugal. Reuters

Airplanes sit on the tarmac at the site of French aircraft storage and recycling company Tarmac Aerosave in Tarbes following the coronavirus outbreak in France, June 19, 2020. Reuters

Delta Airlines jets parked at the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, California, US, March 26, 2020. EPA

Delta Airlines are just one of several airline operators turning to storage solutions for aircraft during the global pandemic. EPA

Airline jets are grounded at Melbourne Airport because of travel restrictions in Australia. Getty Images

eCube Solution's St Athan storage facility in Wales - the company has disassembled hundreds of aircraft including six Gulf Air A330s, two Etihad A319s and one Qatar A319. Courtesy eCube

Aircraft grounded because of the Covid-19 pandemic, including planes operated by TUI pictured on the apron at Manchester Airport in the UK. AFP

A row of grounded Thai Airways passenger jets at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok on August 1, 2020, as passenger numbers plummeted because of the Covid-19 pandemic. AFP

Passenger planes parked at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport during the coronavirus crisis. Getty Images

Jets stocked by Tarmac Aerosave, an aircraft recycling and storage company, are pictured on the company parking area in Azereix, southwestern France. AFP

A Cathay Pacific passenger airplane is taxied onto the runway as other aircraft are seen parked on the tarmac at Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok International Airport on March 10, 2020. AFP

Aircrafts from different airlines are seen grounded in Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 21, 2020 in Sepang, Malaysia. Getty Images

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.