Qantas is to put two of its six A380s back in the air.
The first service will fly on Saturday between Sydney and London via Singapore and will be the first flown by a QF A380 since the airline's superjumbos were grounded on November 4 after a Sydney-bound plane was forced to return to Singapore when one of its engines exploded in mid-air.
The A380s which serve the Los Angeles to Sydney and Los
Angeles to Melbourbe routes will not resume yet as these require
fuel tanks to be near capacity which means a higher thrust on
take-off.
"We are completely comfortable with the operation of the aircraft,"
chief executive Alan Joyce said.
Qantas said the decision to restore A380 services follows an
intensive Trent 900 engine inspection programme carried out in
close consultation with Rolls-Royce and Airbus.
"Together with the engine and aircraft manufacturers and the Civil
Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), Qantas is now satisfied that it
can begin reintroducing A380s to its international network
progressively," said a statement from the airline.
Joyce said Qantas would have four of the A380s operating by
Christmas and it would assess when and how best to deploy
them.
"In line with its conservative approach to operational safety,
Qantas is voluntarily suspending A380 services on routes that
regularly require use of maximum certified engine thrust and will
do so until further operational experience is gained or possible
additional changes are made to engines," the QF statement
added.
"This is an operational decision by Qantas and pilots still have
access to maximum certified thrust if they require it during
flight. It is not a manufacturer's directive."
