The Qantas A380 that made a lucky escape and made an emergency landing in Singapore could have ended up exploding in the skies revealed media reports. The A380 was flying from Singapore to Sydney. Qantas has 6 Airbus A380s in its fleet and these planes use the Trent 900 engines of the London-based Rolls Royce fame. Investigators revealed that there was an oil leakage and the leaking oil caught fire. The burning oil heated up the metal parts and resulted in an explosion. Some of the flying metal debris tore through hydraulics and an engine control line of the aircraft’s wing. As a result, the pilots were no longer able to control the second wing and about fifty percent of the damaged wing’s brake flaps forcing them to make an emergency landing at Singapore aircraft, stated sources.
The situation could have had a much grimmer outcome. Taking no chances, Qantas has grounded its A380 fleet and updated its schedule for international flights. It was revealed that the airline can take as many as 7 weeks before it gives the nod to A380s to fly again. According to sources, the 6 A380s serve 50 departures every week out of a total of 613. The grounding of the flights has come as a major disappointment for travellers who had managed to land cheap flight tickets to travel aboard A380s by booking well in advance.
Passengers can take it Easy
Qantas operates a massive fleet. Besides A380s, it has 14 A330s, 26 B747s, and some 30 other aircrafts. All these will be pressed into service to ensure that there is least possible disruption of scheduled international services and passengers face the least possible inconvenience. As per the Telegraph reports, the operations of most of the international flights would be as per schedule and the domestic flights are already flying according to schedule. Qantas has stated that as long as the A380s do not resume services, passengers would be accommodated on the other flights of its vast international network.
Rolls Royce to Face the Music
According to the constant trickle of media reports, Rolls Royce, the manufacturer of the Trent 900 engines, will have to pay an astronomical amount to Airbus for the engine failure. Mr Stefan Schaffrath, the spokesman of Airbus was quoted by the Mail Online as saying ‘We will seek full financial compensation from Rolls-Royce for any costs we have to bear. We are making extra efforts to keep our production flow going and to help our customers maintain their operations. For that, we will seek full compensation’. However, Airbus also clarified that it will claim extra compensation to the extent it spends on ensuring that its customer airlines face the least possible disruption of services.
The situation could have had a much grimmer outcome. Taking no chances, Qantas has grounded its A380 fleet and updated its schedule for international flights. It was revealed that the airline can take as many as 7 weeks before it gives the nod to A380s to fly again. According to sources, the 6 A380s serve 50 departures every week out of a total of 613. The grounding of the flights has come as a major disappointment for travellers who had managed to land cheap flight tickets to travel aboard A380s by booking well in advance.
Passengers can take it Easy
Qantas operates a massive fleet. Besides A380s, it has 14 A330s, 26 B747s, and some 30 other aircrafts. All these will be pressed into service to ensure that there is least possible disruption of scheduled international services and passengers face the least possible inconvenience. As per the Telegraph reports, the operations of most of the international flights would be as per schedule and the domestic flights are already flying according to schedule. Qantas has stated that as long as the A380s do not resume services, passengers would be accommodated on the other flights of its vast international network.
Rolls Royce to Face the Music
According to the constant trickle of media reports, Rolls Royce, the manufacturer of the Trent 900 engines, will have to pay an astronomical amount to Airbus for the engine failure. Mr Stefan Schaffrath, the spokesman of Airbus was quoted by the Mail Online as saying ‘We will seek full financial compensation from Rolls-Royce for any costs we have to bear. We are making extra efforts to keep our production flow going and to help our customers maintain their operations. For that, we will seek full compensation’. However, Airbus also clarified that it will claim extra compensation to the extent it spends on ensuring that its customer airlines face the least possible disruption of services.