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Qantas learns to fly without its grounded superjumbos

Other News Materials 11 November 2010 10:01 (UTC +04:00)
Australia's Qantas Airways released a revised flight schedule Thursday that showed it expected its Airbus A380s to be out of commission for some time after oil leaks were found in three of the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines that power its fleet of six superjumbos, dpa reported.
Qantas learns to fly without its grounded superjumbos

Australia's Qantas Airways released a revised flight schedule Thursday that showed it expected its Airbus A380s to be out of commission for some time after oil leaks were found in three of the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines that power its fleet of six superjumbos, dpa reported.

   The planes were grounded a week ago after an engine blowout shortly after take-off from Singapore forced an emergency landing and checks of all the other engines of Qantas' fleet of the world's biggest passenger planes.

   "The new forward schedule enables Qantas to accommodate customers on services across its entire international network over the coming weeks, regardless of when A380 aircraft re-enter service," Qantas said.

   The airline also confirmed it had received an Airworthiness Directive from the European Aviation Safety Authority for its Trent 900 engines.

   "The specific checks mandated by the directive were already being carried out by Qantas in conjunction with Rolls-Royce," the carrier said. "Qantas' A380 aircraft will not return to service until there is complete certainty that the fleet can operate safely."

   Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth told Australia's national broadcaster ABC that it is not considering seeking compensation from Rolls-Royce for the million-dollar losses incurred in the grounding of its A380s.

   "There's no talk of that," she said. "We're very much focused on working in partnership with Rolls-Royce. They're the manufacturers of this engine, and our focus is very much on getting the engines working."

   This week, Singapore Airlines pulled three of its A380s out of service after "oil stains" were found in three Trent 900 engines. Those A380s are currently in Singapore having those engines changed.

   Germany's Lufthansa, the only other airline to fly the A380 with Trent 900 motors, has also ordered additional checks on the engines.

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