Qantas' evolving A380 network highlights some of Asia's biggest airline strategic shifts

When Qantas in Mar-2013 shifts the stopover of its London-bound services from Singapore to Dubai, the switch represents more than just the large change over the past decade between Australia and Europe. Qantas' A380 fleet has been at the centre of some of the largest strategic re-directions that have occurred around Asia-Pacific, from Japan's prominence fading to the growing importance of China to the new competition across the Pacific to the United States.

These changes make for an interesting comparison with the very original network for the initial 12 A380s Qantas foreshadowed when issuing a request for proposal to suppliers related to its 2000 acquisition of the aircraft. Some parts of the original network were implemented: Melbourne-Singapore-London Heathrow while others, between Sydney and London, shifted layover hubs from Bangkok to Singapore as the latter gained prominence. With Japan's economic slowdown, Sydney-Tokyo A380 services were never realised, but services from Sydney to Hong Kong - Asia's new global city - were.