Qantas A380 returns to Sydney after satellite issue disrupts South Africa flight

Qantas did not immediately respond to Simple Flying’s request for comment regarding the flight.

Upon returning after approximately nine hours in the air, passengers disembarked in Sydney. The airline arranged overnight accommodation before rebooking them onto another service bound for Johannesburg. Travelers eventually completed their journey on a scheduled 14-hour and 45-minute replacement flight.

Maintenance teams inspected VH-OQL overnight. After clearance, it resumed regular operations without further issues and flew from Sydney to Los Angeles on October 1.

Qantas operates nine active Airbus A380-800s out of ten in its fleet, using these large aircraft primarily on major international routes including Singapore, London Heathrow, Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Johannesburg from hubs in Sydney and Melbourne.

VH-OQL first flew as F-WWSL under French registration in April 2011 before being delivered to Qantas later that year. The aircraft is named after Phyllis Arnott, who was Australia's first woman commercial pilot and part of the Arnott biscuit family.

Configured for four classes and up to 485 passengers—14 in first class, 70 business class seats, 60 premium economy spots, and 341 in economy—the plane uses four Rolls-Royce Trent 972 engines. During the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 through December 2022, VH-OQL was stored at Victorville, California before returning to service in early 2023. It underwent further maintenance and cabin refurbishment between March and June of this year due to supply chain delays but now features updated seating options and new inflight entertainment systems.