Qantas Returns Two Superjumbos to Service
Qantas said Tuesday it will resume flying some of its A380 superjumbos this weekend, ending a self-imposed flight ban after a massive in-flight engine failure prompted a global safety review.
CEO Alan Joyce said two of Qantas’ existing fleet of six Airbus superjumbos would be brought back into service, flying between Sydney and London via Singapore. Two more A380s that the airline will take delivery of before Christmas will begin taking passengers as soon as they are ready.
The rest of Qantas’ fleet will remain on the ground, as engineers continue checks and switching out engines and parts to modify the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines of the type that disintegrated shortly after a Qantas plane took off from Singapore on Nov. 4.
Qantas is also keeping its direct A380 flights from Australia to Los Angeles suspended because they use the maximum amount of engine thrust, which adds stress to the engines. Joyce said this was a precaution in line with Qantas’ conservative approach to safety.
The decision to return two planes to the air follows exhaustive checks and fixes in consultation with Airbus and Rolls-Royce, the maker of the Trent 900 engine that failed.
“After those extensive checks with Airbus and Rolls-Royce we are completely comfortable with the operation of the aircraft,” Joyce told a news conference in Sydney. “The aircraft have been grounded now for 19 days, and we believe it is appropriate to start the services this week.”
Investigators say leaking oil caught fire in the Qantas engine on Nov. 4 and heated metal parts, causing them to disintegrate before the jetliner returned safely to Singapore with 466 people aboard. Experts say chunks of flying metal cut hydraulics and an engine-control line in the wing of the A380, causing a cascade of problems including the loss of control of a second engine and some braking power, fuel leaks and more than 50 on-board warnings.
It was the most serious safety scare for the world’s largest and newest jetliners, and prompted Qantas to ground its fleet. Other airlines using the Trent 900 engine aboard A380s, Singapore Airlines and Germany’s Lufthansa, also briefly grounded some planes while safety checks were carried out.
Between them, the three airlines fly 20 A380s with four Trent 900 engines apiece.
Three other Qantas A380s are still waiting for new engines or parts that will be switched out before they are returned to service. The sixth is still in Singapore where investigators are poring over damage to the engine and to flight systems that were hit by shrapnel that flew off when the engine blew.
Joyce said Qantas had removed 16 engines from its A380 fleet to complete checks and fixes to satisfy its engineers the planes are safe to fly.
One theory about a possible contributing factor to the Qantas engine failure is that the airline uses greater thrust during takeoff on its routes across the Pacific Ocean — among the world’s longest commercial flights — because they need to carry more fuel to complete the flight. The greater thrust puts more stress on the engine.
Joyce said Qantas was reducing the thrust settings for the planes returning to service and was keeping the longest flights — from Sydney and Melbourne to Los Angeles — suspended for the time being.
He said it was an operational decision and that pilots would still have access to maximum certified thrust if they needed it during flights.
“The engines are capable of making that mission,” Joyce said. “The manufacturers and obviously the regulators believe that it’s still acceptable to fly them on that mission. But again, given the caution that we’ve applied all the way through this, we think it’s sensible to have that restriction until we’re comfortable with putting them back onto that route.”
Qantas has declined to say publicly what its thrust settings for its A380s are. The airline reportedly uses a maximum thrust setting of 72,000 pounds for A380s taking off on the two Australia-United States routes. That’s below the engine’s certified maximum of 80,000 pounds, according to Rolls-Royce documents.
Peter Marosszeky, a jetliner maintenance expert at the University of New South Wales, said the decision to suspend the longest-haul flights suggested Qantas was being very conservative about thoroughly testing all aspects of its A380s before bringing them back online.
“They are trying to limit stressing the engine to its maximum, to prevent any aggressive deterioration or anything like that,” he said. “It is a very wise decision. You don’t want to operate something at its maximum thrust capability then find out that you are prematurely creating a problem.”
ROHAN SULLIVAN, Associated Press SYDNEY