Europe orders new checks on A380
Europe’s aviation regulator has identified an oil fire as the likely cause of last week’s engine failure on a Qantas A380 plane and ordered a new inspection regime for all A380s using Rolls-Royce engines.
In the latest development, Lufthansa has replaced a Rolls-Royce engine on one of its Airbus A380 superjumbos after maintenance checks detected a problem, a spokesman said yesterday.
Lufthansa said the problem was minor and not connected with the oil leaks that have grounded Qantas and Singapore Airlines superjumbos using the same type of engine.
The aircraft in question is back in service.
Lufthansa said customer confidence in the aircraft remained high, and that the airline had not recorded any spike in cancellations since last week’s incident with a Qantas A380 flying from Singapore to Sydney.
Qantas has released an updated schedule for its international network to ensure minimum disruption to passengers following the grounding of its Airbus A380 fleet.
Qantas said it is committed to bringing its A380s back into service “as soon as possible”.
“This contingency schedule has been designed to provide certainty for customers planning to travel in the near future,” an airline spokesman said.
Singapore Airlines, which took three Airbus A380 planes out of service on Wednesday, has not ruled out the possibility of grounding more of the superjumbos.
SIA chief executive Chew Choon Seng said, "We are in very close communication with the aircraft manufacturer and engine-maker.
“Even as they analyse the data, the observations, they come back to us with new recommendations. It is an ongoing, continuous process,” he said.
Meanwhile, Boeing has halted test flights of its long-delayed 787 Dreamliner after a fire forced an emergency landing in Texas on Tuesday.
The Dreamliner is already nearly three years behind schedule.
Boeing said it had no reason to suspect that the aircraft’s engines, which are made by Rolls-Royce, had anything to do with the incident.
Ian Jarrett
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