Hi Keg,
Qantas would liked to not have had to do anything.
sadly for them if They didn’t do the gear swings and D checks those aircraft would become coke cans.
So it was done to keep options available “potentially”.
There is absolutely no guarantee how many or if any A380’s return.Qantas said in a zoom call just this week there is no way they are coming back till 2024.
Dec 2023 at the absolute earliest.Given the Feds 180 on vaccine policy it’s likely that’s delayed even further given the border restrictions won’t be lifted till well into 2022 or later.