Grounded Qantas A380 planes scheduled to fly again after inspection

Grounded Qantas A380 planes scheduled to fly again after inspection

Qantas Airways announced on Tuesday that its grounded A380 jets will return to active service after the company determined that they were safe to fly again after an A380 engine exploded on November 4. The airline voluntarily grounded the aircraft immediately after the incident and conducted a thorough inspection. Two out six A380s servicing the London-Sydney route would be resuming its usual schedule this week, Qantas chief executive officer Alan Joyce said. Two other A380s which are to be delivered are to begin flying in time for the holiday travel season.

The Rolls-Royce Trent engines of the rest of the Qantas A380s will continue to be inspected and faulty engine and mechanical parts are to be replaced, Qantas said. Joyce said that they consulted Airbus and Rolls-Royce before deciding to return the A380s back to active service.

“After those extensive checks with Airbus and Rolls-Royce we are completely comfortable with the operation of the aircraft,” he said during a press conference in Sydney. “The aircraft have been grounded now for 19 days, and we believe it is appropriate to start the services this week.”

The cause of the engine fire was an oil leak and the metal parts disintegrated because of the heat. Qantas, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines all use A380 jet planes with Trent 900 engines. The other two airlines also grounded their planes after the Qantas engine incident but have since returned them to service after mechanical inspection. Qantas also said that they decided to reduce the amount of thrust during take-offs of the A380s to minimize the strain on the engines.

Posted by Sophia Andrews on Tuesday November 23 2010, 7:45 AM EST. Ref: AP. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Travel. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0