Qantas will end Airbus A380 flying on Melbourne (MEL)–Los Angeles (LAX) this October, switching the daily tag to the Boeing 787-9. Simple Flying reports the superjumbo is due to leave the city pair around 22 October 2026, with the Dreamliner taking over the published daily pattern from 25 October. Under the new plan, QF93 departs Melbourne at 23:15 and arrives Los Angeles at 18:40 the same calendar day, while QF94 leaves LAX at 22:50 and reaches Melbourne at 09:30 two days later, both on the 787-9.
Melbourne–Los Angeles has been one of Qantas’s longest A380 sectors and the second-longest A380 city pair in the airline’s network after Sydney–Dallas/Fort Worth. Pulling the double-decker off MEL–LAX leaves U.S. A380 service concentrated on flights from Sydney Kingsford Smith, simplifying where Qantas stations the type’s unique ground equipment and cabin crews. The 787-9 offers fewer seats but more schedule flexibility and better match to softened economy demand while premium cabins hold firmer, according to the Simple Flying analysis.
For Los Angeles, the change is visible on the ramp: fewer A380 turns from Melbourne mean one less regular superjumbo arrival in Southern California from Victoria. Passengers lose the A380’s downstairs economy feel and gain the 787’s newer cabin product and typically tighter turnaround economics. Premium travelers who preferred the A380’s upstairs business cabin will need to sample the Dreamliner’s suites and denser premium economy on the same city pair.
Qantas still deploys A380s on flagship long-hauls such as Sydney–Los Angeles, Sydney–Dallas/Fort Worth and the Sydney–Singapore–London Kangaroo routing, among other markets listed in recent network summaries. Moving MEL–LAX onto the 787-9 is therefore a right-sizing story, not an A380 retirement. The airline can redeploy the freed A380 hours onto thicker Sydney banks or maintenance buffers while Melbourne keeps a daily Los Angeles nonstop on twin-engine metal.
Competitive pressure on the Southern California–Victoria lane includes other oneworld and Pacific carriers’ one-stop options plus Qantas’s own Sydney gateway. A daily 787-9 preserves frequency—the metric many corporate contracts care about—while cutting the risk of flying a half-full double-decker in shoulder seasons. Block times remain in the 14–16 hour band depending on winds; the type change does not invent a new routing, only a different seat map and fuel burn.
Travelers booked on MEL–LAX around the late-October switch should check equipment codes as tickets are reissued. Simple Flying’s October 22/25 dates are the current public guideposts; Qantas may nudge the exact last A380 flight by a day as operational planning closes. Either way, the direction is clear: Melbourne’s nonstop to Los Angeles is becoming a Dreamliner route, and the A380’s U.S. footprint is narrowing back toward Sydney.
Sources: Simple Flying report published 18 September 2026 on Qantas ending Melbourne–Los Angeles Airbus A380 service in favor of daily Boeing 787-9 flights from late October 2026.
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