Originally Posted by Awol57
I suspect that design was only instituted at Qanta's request as they couldn't possibly do LHR direct without having an international transfer over that side. I don't recall 18A and 20A existing prior to that requirement.
Originally Posted by Nafenn
They were installed for Virgin Australia's A330s around 2011 along with 17A.
Upon perusing Google Earth, that isn't correct. 18A was not created until 2018. 17A was, but I don't believe that has ever been used by QF.