Qantas grounds A380s after scare

Qantas Airways suspended flights of its Airbus A380 fleet on Thursday after engine failure triggered an emergency landing in Singapore, one of the most serious incidents for the world’s largest passenger plane in three years of commercial flight.

The Airbus A380, which had originated in London and was carrying 459 people, suffered failure of one of its four engines shortly after it had left the island state en route for Sydney.

Passengers said they heard a loud bang and saw parts of the engine fall off, some of which fell onto an Indonesian island. Australian officials said no one on board was injured.

Qantas, which operates six A380s, said it was grounding the aircraft pending a full investigation. Three A380 flights scheduled for Thursday, one originating in Sydney and two in Los Angeles, have been stopped.

“We will suspend all A380 takeoffs until we are fully confident we have sufficient information about (flight) QF32,” Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce told reporters in Sydney.

Joyce said the plane was capable of flying on two engines. “This was a significant engine failure. We are not underestimating the significance of this issue. Grounding the A380 fleet is a significant issue for us.”

Investigation

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau was leading the investigation into the incident, Joyce said. Passengers will stay in Singapore overnight, Qantas said, adding it will dispatch another plane for them on Friday morning.

Initial media reports said the plane had crashed after an explosion over the Indonesian island of Batam, near Singapore. The reports sent the Australian carrier’s shares lower but they later recovered.

There have been no fatal incidents involving A380s since they were launched in 2005 amid great fanfare as the greenest, quietest — as well as the biggest — jetliner.

Singapore Airlines too suspended flights of Airbus A380 superjumbos. Emirates said it was not considering suspending flights as its engines are from a different supplier.

Qantas A380s use Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines. The plane involved in the incident was built in 2008.

The A380 has been bedevilled with production delays. More than 200 orders have been placed for the aircraft, and 37 are in operation worldwide, according to Airbus. Qantas said the incident did not impact its standing orders for more A380s.

Earlier this year, one of the planes operated by Qantas burst two tyres when landing in Sydney, and in September 2009 an A380 was forced to turn around in mid-flight and return to Paris.

“This is probably the most serious incident involving the A380 since it began flying in commercial service,” said aviation expert Tom Ballantyne. “There have been minor engine incidents before but nothing like this.”