11 June 2009

Qantas checks entire A330 fleet

SYDNEY Ã¢â¬' Qantas Engineering is liaising with Airbus following the cockpit fire that forced an international Jetstar flight carrying 203 people into an emergency landing on the Pacific island of Guam on Wednesday.

As a precaution, Qantas has been undertaking visual checks of the relevant cockpit area on its entire A330 fleet.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said, Ã¢â¬ÅâœShould we have any concerns, these will be addressed immediately before an aircraft returns to service.

"More detailed inspections will follow and should any directives be issued by safety authorities or Airbus, we will respond to them immediately.Ã¢â¬~

The Guam incident will be the subject of an official investigation led by the US National Transport Safety Bureau, supported by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and both Jetstar and Qantas.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœWe are confident this is an isolated incident and that there is no link with any issues around the recent Air France accident,Ã¢â¬~ Joyce added.

Airbus has denied a press report that it was considering grounding all long haul A330 and A340 jets to change airspeed sensors after an Air France plane crashed into the Atlantic.

Airbus has written to clients to assure them its A330 planes were safe, including those with older speed sensors seen as a possible cause for last week's Air France crash, a spokeswoman said.