Specialists arrive to probe Qantas A380 incident
A team of specialists from Airbus will arrive in Singapore today to join Australian investigators seeking answers to the incident yesterday when an A380 aircraft operated by Qantas was involved in an in-flight engine failure soon after flight QF32 took off from Singapore bound for Sydney.
Qantas has grounded its six-strong Airbus A380 fleet, although there is no indication that other carriers who operate the super jumbo – Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa – will suspend their A380 operations.
Thirty seven of the giant jets are in operation around the world and another 234 are on order with Airbus.
The QF32 aircraft, which was carrying 433 passengers and 26 crew, had logged around 8165 flight hours and 831 flight cycles, according to Airbus.
The aircraft lost most of one engine cowling after an explosion. Debris was scattered close to a shopping centre on the Indonesian island of Batam.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said the aircraft involved in the Singapore incident recently underwent its first heavy maintenance check by Lufthansa Technik in Germany.
A Qantas relief flight left Australia to bring passengers affected by yesterday’s incident back to Sydney. The flight was due to depart Singapore at 10.30am local time.
Other Qantas services have also been affected by the grounding of the A380s.
Ian Jarrett
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