LAX To Welcome the Return of Asiana & Qantas A380s in 2022

Updated: January 18, 2022, 7:01am CST

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LAX Will Soon See 2 More A380s
Final Thoughts

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The beloved Airbus A380 is making a quicker comeback than we imagined.

In 2022, 2 more airlines — South Korea’s Asiana and Australia’s Qantas — will be scheduling their behemoth A380s on flights to Los Angeles (LAX). This positive development comes after we learned that British Airways would bring its version of the A380 back to the skies earlier than many expected.

This is exciting news for the industry, given the devastating impact that the pandemic has had on the A380. Some airlines, like Air France, will never fly the aircraft again, though the jet continues to be a mainstay in other airline fleets, the most notable example being Emirates.

Let’s dig into this exciting news.

LAX Will Soon See 2 More A380s

Starting in January, Asiana and Qantas A380s will return to the apron at Los Angeles International Airport, where they’ll join the superjumbos from China Southern and Emirates, which are currently offering A380 service to the airport. Sadly for AvGeeks, British Airways will remove the A380 from its London-Heathrow (LHR) to Los Angeles (LAX) route in January.

Asiana

Originally planned for March 27, 2022, Asiana will now redeploy its A380 to LAX from its hub at Seoul-Incheon (ICN) from October 30, 2022. Throughout the pandemic, the route has been operated by a smaller Airbus A350. On the same day, Asiana will also redeploy the A380 on its Seoul to Frankfurt (FRA) route.

When the A380 returns to LAX, Asiana will be operating twice-daily service with the following flight numbers: OZ204/OZ203 and OZ202/OZ201.

Only flights OZ202 and OZ201 will see the A380, according to the schedule below:

Depart Seoul-Incheon 2:40 p.m. — Arrive Los Angeles 9:50 a.m.
Depart Los Angeles 12:10 p.m. — Arrive Seoul-Incheon 5:35 a.m. (+1)

Qantas

Per reporting from the Sydney Morning Herald, Qantas’ A380 will return to Los Angeles on January 11, 2022. However, the A380 isn’t currently showing in various booking tools, including the airline’s own.

Right now, Qantas is using a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for the route it operates from Sydney (SYD) to L.A. The forthcoming reintroduction of the A380 also corresponds with a drop in frequency, from 7 to 4 flights per week.

The flights will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays according to the following schedule:

Depart Sydney 9:55 p.m. — Arrive Los Angeles 4:30 p.m.
Depart Los Angeles 8:30 p.m. — Arrive Sydney 6:20 a.m. (+2)

Hot Tip: Planning a trip Down Under? Check out our complete guide to getting to Australia with points and miles!

Final Thoughts

The return of the A380 is worth getting excited about for a couple of reasons.

First and foremost, it means that the aviation and airline industry is recovering more quickly than we might have hoped, as the use of larger aircraft generally means more people are traveling.

And for passengers, the A380 offers a flying experience that brings with it, in most cases, inflight comfort and smoothness like no other aircraft in the skies today.