Qantas says engine failure may be "design issue"

A faulty part or a design issue may have caused the explosion in an engine on a Qantas Airways Airbus A380, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Singapore, Qantas chief Alan Joyce said on Friday.

The engine failure on Thursday, which scattered debris over an Indonesian island, marked the biggest incident to date for the world's largest passenger plane, in service only since 2007.

It forced Qantas to ground its fleet and other airlines to recheck their own A380s.

"We believe this is probably most likely a material failure or some sort of design issue," Joyce told a news conference in Sydney.

Qantas has grounded its fleet of six A380s pending safety checks which will take 24 to 48 hours to complete.

"If we don't find any adverse findings in those checks the aircraft will resume operations," said Joyce.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said on Friday there was no indication foul play had contributed to the incident on the Sydney-bound flight.

Singapore Airlines resumed flying its A380s on Friday, lifting a grounding order imposed after the Qantas incident.

Singapore's clearance of its 11 A380s -- the second largest fleet in the world after Emirates -- will be a relief for Airbus and engine maker Rolls-Royce, which lost over $1.5 billion in combined market value on Thursday.

EADS shares gained 1 per cent on Friday, after Thursday's 4 per cent fall, while Rolls-Royce shares fell a further 1.6 per cent after a 5 per cent slide the previous day.

German airline Lufthansa said it had withdrawn an A380 from a flight from Frankfurt to Johannesburg because it did not have enough time to check the engines before departure.

British A380 engine maker Rolls-Royce issued a statement urging operators of the aircraft to perform safety checks on its Trent 900 engines.

In a statement, EADS also told A380 operators using Rolls-Royce engines to have them inspected.

Airbus sales chief John Leahy told Reuters on the sidelines of the Chinese signing ceremony in Paris that he had not received any pressure from airlines about the A380's safety.

"No concerns whatsoever," he said, asked if Airbus customers had expressed safety worries following the engine scare.

"We have to find out the reason for the engine failure. The aircraft is operating the way it is supposed to," Leahy said.
 

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