Qantas A380 cleared for take-off to London
Qantas is to put two of its six A380s back in the air.
The first service will fly on Saturday between Sydney and London via Singapore and will be the first flown by a QF A380 since the airline’s superjumbos were grounded on November 4 after a Sydney-bound plane was forced to return to Singapore when one of its engines exploded in mid-air.
The A380s which serve the Los Angeles to Sydney and Los Angeles to Melbourbe routes will not resume yet as these require fuel tanks to be near capacity which means a higher thrust on take-off.
"We are completely comfortable with the operation of the aircraft," chief executive Alan Joyce said.
Qantas said the decision to restore A380 services follows an intensive Trent 900 engine inspection programme carried out in close consultation with Rolls-Royce and Airbus.
“Together with the engine and aircraft manufacturers and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), Qantas is now satisfied that it can begin reintroducing A380s to its international network progressively,” said a statement from the airline.
Joyce said Qantas would have four of the A380s operating by Christmas and it would assess when and how best to deploy them.
“In line with its conservative approach to operational safety, Qantas is voluntarily suspending A380 services on routes that regularly require use of maximum certified engine thrust and will do so until further operational experience is gained or possible additional changes are made to engines,” the QF statement added.
“This is an operational decision by Qantas and pilots still have access to maximum certified thrust if they require it during flight. It is not a manufacturer’s directive.”
by Ian Jarrett
Ian Jarrett
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