Qantas approaches court over new Rolls-Royce engine rules

The airline states in Federal Court papers that it bought the Airbus superjumbos because they would carry 450 passengers and a payload of 60,900kg from Australia to Los Angeles, according to a report in The Courier Mail.

But the new rules imposed by Rolls-Royce since one of its Trent 900 engines exploded on a Qantas A380 near Singapore last month mean that the world's biggest passenger jet is not a commercial proposition on the airline's Australia-US route. Qantas had grounded all six of its A380s after the explosion.

Qantas, which has suspended the route, has asked for damages and costs.The airliner in its federal court papers have also sought a declaration from the court ordering the UK engine maker to fund a USD 1 million credit note relating to a guarantee against "uncontained engine failure" - to stop engine parts perforating the outer shield of an engine.

Rolls-Royce is accused of negligence and breach of contract. Qantas in its statement of claim said Rolls-Royce continued to modify the Trent 900 engine, but left 23 engines on its big jets unmodified. At the time of the Singapore incident only one engine had been modified.