Qantas says A380 aircraft are safe to fly after 'serious' incident

November 27, 2010



Australian airline Qantas has returned the first of its fleet of Airbus A380s to service, after all six of the "superjumbo" aircraft were grounded three weeks ago following one aircraft's engine ; it landed safely in Singapore without injury. The airline stated that all of the aircraft have undergone extensive safety inspections and they are satisfied they are safe.

, CEO of Qantas, said: "It's great that we can reintroduce the aircraft. We are 100 percent comfortable with it. If we weren't, we wouldn't be restarting the operations today." A spokesperson confirmed that tests had been performed "in close consultation with and Airbus" on the model's  engines. Qantas has replaced at least 14 engines, and modifications have been made to Trent 900s used by two other companies, and.

Experts said that the incident was embarrassing for Airbus; the airline's have dropped by 7% since. Aviation journalist Tom Ballantyne said that the failure earlier this month was "certainly the most serious incident that the A380 has experienced since it entered operations." The A380 made its first commercial flight in 2007, and is now in service with several other airlines, including. It is the largest commercial passenger airliner in the world, with an 840-passenger maximum capacity, though Qantas's can carry 450. There are reportedly plans to build a of the plane, which, aviation experts have suggested, would be the world's first "triple-decker" freight aircraft; Airbus has not confirmed that this variant will be built.