Qantas Continues A380 Engine Inspection Program
Add bookmark
Sydney, 08 November 2010
Qantas is continuing an intensive inspection program on all Rolls-Royce engines in its A380 fleet, but operations will be recovered and significant disruptions to passengers should cease within the next 24 hours.
As part of their investigation, Qantas engineers have removed a number of engines to undertake further examination.
Engineers have been investigating the engines in detail and how their components and design perform under operational conditions, as opposed to the original out-of-factory expectations.
The focus of the investigation has been narrowed to the possibility of an oil leakage in the relevant turbine area. However, investigations on other areas of the engine are continuing, in order to rule out other potential issues.
These inspections are taking place in Sydney and Los Angeles with Qantas engineers working closely with Rolls-Royce, as well as the aircraft manufacturer Airbus and Australian regulators.
Qantas will not return its A380 fleet to service until confident the issues have been identified and resolved. At this stage, Qantas does not expect to operate the A380 fleet for at least another 72 hours.
All Qantas aircraft are being utilised to ensure minimal disruption to scheduled international services. Qantas has scheduled extra services from Los Angeles to ensure passengers affected by the suspension of A380 operations are returned to Australia as soon as possible.
