Dramatic midair engine failures that struck two Qantas aircraft in as many days are unrelated, the airline said yesterday, adding that it was confident of the safety of the planes it is flying.
Qantas grounded its fleet of A380 superjumbos on Thursday after one carrying 466 passengers and crew was forced to return to Singapore after an engine exploded during ascent, raining debris onto an Indonesian island of Batam.
The 90-year-old airline suffered a second engine failure the following day when a Sydney-bound Boeing 747-400 jumbo carrying 412 passengers and 19 crew experienced problems shortly after take-off from Singapore.
Unlike the A380 engine blast — which sent debris flying, causing damage to the plane’s wing — the second incident was a “contained engine failure,” according to Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce.
“We are not concerned about our 747 fleet,” he said. “Those engines have a long life ... We’ve seen inflight shutdowns take place before ... [It’s ] not a safety issue.”
He pointed to mechanical failure as the source of the problem, which occurred six minutes into the flight, causing the engine to emit sparks and smoke and frightening passengers who likened the explosion to fireworks.
“It was pretty scary,” said Swedish tourist Lisa Ogden, who was on board. “An engine on the wing exploded. It looked like fireworks, a pretty big one,” she told reporters at the airport.
“The plane jumped a bit and the cabin crew were yelling ‘crisis’ and they told everyone to sit down,” Ogden said.
Asked whether he thought the 747 had been sabotaged, Joyce said: “We do not believe this is sabotage. It looks like a mechanical failure of the engine.”
Joyce has also said an engine design fault may have caused the other midair emergency involving an Airbus A380.
Both planes landed safely in Singapore, with no injuries to any one on board.
Qantas has said it will investigate both incidents, and that engine checks were still being carried out on the airline’s six A380s, which Joyce said he hoped to have back in use soon.
“We are hopeful that within days we will have our A380 fleet flying again,” he said.
The engine failures, which are front page news in Australia, were earlier described as “unrelated incidents” by Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth.
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