02 September 2008

Qantas reprimanded by Australia's safety watchdog

Australia's aviation safety watchdog has reprimanded Qantas for deficiencies in its maintenance systems and ordered the airline to make improvements.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority's (CASA) safety audit of Qantas found that the airline was not meeting some of its own performance targets and failed to fully comply with an air-worthiness directive in relation to its fleet of 737-400s.

Qantas has been involved in a series of mechanical mishaps recently, the most recent of which saw a London-bound 747-400 make an unscheduled landing in Frankfurt at the weekend after concerns in the cockpit about engine vibration.

CASAÃ¢â¬â¢s report is a blow to the reputation of Qantas, whose spin doctors have repeatedly pushed the line in recent weeks that the airline is a world leader in aviation safety.

CASA deputy chief executive Mick Quinn said: "CASA has looked carefully at Qantas maintenance systems and performance and uncovered signs of emerging problems.

"The review found maintenance performance within Qantas showing some adverse trends and is now below the airline's own benchmarks."

The Melbourne Age reported that CASA would be undertaking two additional investigations of Qantas - a full maintenance audit of one aircraft from each aircraft class, and another focusing on the airline's effectiveness in managing and implementing airworthiness directives.

Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said certain performance indicators and despatch reliability had been significantly impacted by the industrial dispute between Qantas and its aircraft engineers.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœThese issues are not about safety or compliance and we are working to bring our network performance back to the standards which have earned us a reputation as one of the best and most reliable airlines in the world.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœThese difficulties, while improving, will continue for a few weeks yet as our policy of safety before schedule is sacrosanct,Ã¢â¬~ Dixon added.

The CASA review did not find any direct links between recent safety incidents, such as the oxygen bottle failure that forced a Melbourne-bound 747-400 to undertake an emergency landing in Manila, and the maintenance problems.

While the investigation of the Manila incident found the exploding oxygen bottle to be the cause, the Air Transport Safety Board inquiry into the emergency didnÃ¢â¬â¢t solve the riddle as to why the bottle exploded.

By Travelmole Asia