Airline Will Not Fly The A380 Until It Receives Authority OK

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has given a green light to a plan developed by Qantas to return its A380 aircraft to service. Qantas submitted a detailed A380 plan to CASA which sets out how the aircraft will be operated, additional safety measures and required inspections. The airline agreed it would not seek to operate the A380 aircraft until CASA had carefully reviewed and accepted the return to service plan.

Qantas will comply with relevant airworthiness directives, as well as service bulletins from Rolls Royce, relating to the Trent 900 engines fitted to the A380 aircraft.

CASA's Director of Aviation Safety, John McCormick, said the A380 return to service had been closely analysed by CASA's technical staff. "Qantas provided CASA with extensive documentation to support the plan, as well as a number of briefings by key personnel," Mr McCormick said. "CASA has looked at how Qantas will be carrying out the additional inspections of the Trent 900 engines, changes to the way the engines will be operated and how Rolls Royce service bulletins will be met.

"Qantas has devoted considerable resources to making sure the return to service of the A380 will meet all relevant safety requirements," he continued. "CASA will continue to monitor the Qantas A380 operations, with Qantas providing relevant data and information. The decision by Qantas to ground the A380 fleet after the Singapore incident on 4 November 2010 was correct and was supported by CASA."

Mr McCormick said CASA is being regularly briefed by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau on the progress of the official investigation into the A380 engine incident. "The travelling public can have confidence that everything possible is being done to comprehend what went wrong with the A380 engine and how to prevent this occurring again."

FMI: www.casa.gov.au, www.qantas.com