Well its hardly the "A" model. First flew nearly 4 years ago and been in service for well over a year.
And of all the types that have been introduced in modern times I would have thought that a fuel fungus was fairly low down the list of gremlins (and worse!)
- Comets managed a number of accidents til they were rebuilt.
- Electras had to be ferried back to the US to have the wings reskinned after a few wing separations
- Boeing 727s had several accidents due inability to handle high sink rates on approach
- First -100 series 747 rarely got across the Atlantic with all engines running
- Douglas test pilots broke an MD-80 in half during the landing tests
In fact I think the 777 was probably the closest we've yet seen to a flawless EIS and even that wasn't perfect.
This A380 will be a great machine for QF and this is simply a hiccup on that road. Nothing more.