Qantas A380s grounded for at least 72 hours
Qantas said today its fleet of A380 aircraft will remain grounded for at least another 72 hours after a possible oil leak was discovered in three of the Rolls Royce engines.
The Australian airline grounded its six A380s last Thursday after an engine on one of its super-jumbos exploded on a flight from Sydney to Singapore shortly after take-off, forcing the aircraft to return to Singapore.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said checks on other engines had revealed ‘oil where it shouldn’t be’ on three of them.
Speaking to Australian Broadcasting Corporation Joyce said: "We are keeping an open mind on it but… We think it could have been a materials issue on the engine, or a design issue."
He said it would be days rather than weeks before the aircraft were flying again, but he added: "We will take as long as it needs to in order that we are absolutely comfortable the aircraft is safe to fly."
In an unrelated incident on Friday, a Qantas Boeing 747 – also equipped with Rolls-Royce engines – was forced to return to Singapore with an engine problem after taking off.
Mr Joyce said it was "not a safety issue" and that there were no plans to ground the airline’s fleet of 747s.
Rolls-Royce, the British firm which makes the engines for the Qantas planes, saw its share price fall by nearly 5% on Friday.
Singapore Airlines is continuing to fly its fleet of 11 A380 aircraft that are fitted with the same Trent 900 Rolls Royce engines used on the Qantas A380s. It said safety checks had not revealed any cause for concern.
Emirates Airlines, which has one of the largest fleets of A380s, is continuing to fly its aircraft which are powered by Engine Alliance engines.
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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