Qantas has just announced some updates to its schedule. With this, we’re going to see the airline restore Airbus A380 service to another airport in the United States.
In this post:
Qantas A380 will fly from Sydney to Dallas as of August 2025
As of August 11, 2025, Qantas intends to resume flying the Airbus A380 on its route between Sydney (SYD) and Dallas Fort Worth (DFW). For context, the route operates with the following schedule:
QF7 Sydney to Dallas departing 12:10PM arriving 12:30PM
QF8 Dallas to Sydney departing 10:40PM arriving 6:55AM (+2 days)
The 8,578-mile flight is blocked at 15hr20min eastbound and 17hr15min westbound, and it’s the 11th longest flight in the world. Currently it’s operated exclusively by a Boeing 787-9, but once this change kicks in, we’ll see the A380 fly the route 4x weekly, while the 787 flies the route 3x weekly.
Qantas’ A380s are configured with 485 seats, comprised of 14 first class seats, 70 business class seats, 60 premium economy seats, and 341 economy seats. This marks the reintroduction of first class on the route, plus a massive increase in the number of seats across business class, premium economy, and economy.
This represents a major capacity upgrade in the market, as Qantas’ 787s are configured with 236 seats, including 42 business class seats, 28 premium economy seats, and 166 economy seats.
Qantas’ A380 fleet consists of 10 aircraft, though they haven’t all been reactivated just yet. The airline grounded this fleet at the start of the pandemic, but has brought the jets back, given how demand has increased. Qantas otherwise flies its Airbus A380s from Sydney (SYD) to Johannesburg (JNB), London (LHR), Los Angeles (LAX), and Singapore (SIN).
DFW started getting A380 service back in 2014, so the airport has seen service from the world’s largest commercial jet for around a decade. We’ve seen A380 service at the airport from British Airways, Emirates, and Qantas. This will mark the first time since before the pandemic that Qantas flies the A380 to DFW.
This seems like a logical route to expand
I don’t think anyone will be terribly surprised to see Qantas bringing the A380 back to Dallas, as the airline puts more A380s back into service. American and Qantas have a transpacific joint venture, and Dallas is of course a fortress hub for American.
While Los Angeles is Qantas’ biggest gateway in North America, it’s not necessarily the best for connections, especially for those traveling beyond the West Coast.
Service through Dallas provides a ton of one-stop connectivity for travelers. In addition to the Sydney flight, Qantas is also operating a flight to Dallas out of Melbourne (MEL), which operates 3x weekly, and as of early 2025, will be boosted to 4x weekly.
Bottom line
As of August 2025, Qantas will once again fly the Airbus A380 between Sydney and Dallas. This was an A380 route before the pandemic, so it makes sense that this service would once again be restored. This is also Qantas’ longest A380 route, and for that matter, one of the longest A380 flights in the world.
What do you make of Qantas adding A380 flights from Sydney to Dallas?
Does this route have any payload restrictions for an a380?
It seems they are keeping the MEL:DFW pairing (with 787). Since I'm far more likely to want MEL for final, that's great. (MEL is just better bang for $). Plus, if you're connecting, the connection at MEL is easier.
How does this increase in capacity affect award seat availability?
Loved seeing the A380 in DFW pre-COVID. Nice to see it returning.
Hi, Did this route on 30/5/2016 on my RTW#7, SYD d.1300 - DFW a.13:35+2, duration 15:35, (although we were 25m early). On A388 VH-OQI, Del Jan 2011, was stored over Covid, and then reconfigured, and now working normally again. They served Bundaberg rum in Economy. Still got my Boarding Card. Still the longest distance flight I've done. Cheers Ben.
Flying SYD-DFW arrival time would be the same day as departure, not +2. (The opposite direction is +2.)
As an Aussie based in Sydney I much prefer the afternoon departures to Dallas as a way to get to the west coast. Much shorter second flight and I like the more overnight first flight.
And I love all things a380.
Have only flown first on it once with Qantas. With my 8 year old son in tow (thanks Alaska miles back in the day -70k).
Great flight and I think the...
As an Aussie based in Sydney I much prefer the afternoon departures to Dallas as a way to get to the west coast. Much shorter second flight and I like the more overnight first flight.
And I love all things a380.
Have only flown first on it once with Qantas. With my 8 year old son in tow (thanks Alaska miles back in the day -70k).
Great flight and I think the seats are underrated. Flight attendant denied my son a second Raisin Bran until he had “served everyone else in first class”. Classic Qantas.
*East coast.
"Flight attendant denied my son a second Raisin Bran until he had 'served everyone else in first class'. Classic Qantas." Maybe I misread this, but shouldn't a flight attendant deny seconds until everyone else gets an opportunity? Good lesson for a kid.
Ha yes that’s fair Dave.
More so he was quite rude about it and I doubt there’s a run on Raisin Bran with 14 first class seats and Bircher muesli, eggs Benedict, Belgian waffles etc on the menu. Noting Raisin Bran is stocked for the 50 business class seats too.