This just in from the web. Herald Sun 23/11/10
AUSTRALIAN airline Qantas announced today it will resume A380 flights on November 27, with initial flights departing to the UK, Sky News Australia said.
"We are completely comfortable with the operation of the aircraft," chief executive Alan Joyce said in Sydney today.
Mr Joyce said the planes would start flying again from Saturday, November 27.
The carrier's six A380s were grounded earlier this month after a Sydney-bound plane was forced to return to Singapore when one of its engines exploded mid-air.
The planes were grounded on November 4, after QF32 flying from Singapore to Sydney suffered an explosion in one of its four engines over the Indonesian island of Batam.
Qantas engineers then began investigations into all of the Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines on the aircraft.
"We have grounded this fleet for 19 days ... to make sure we are fully comfortable before putting them back in the air," Mr Joyce said.
Mr Joyce said Qantas would have four of the A380s operating by Christmas.
The first flight will be QF31, an A380 due to fly from Sydney to London via Singapore on Saturday, November 27.
The aircraft for that service will be transported to Sydney on a ferry flight from Los Angeles.
A second aircraft is expected to depart Los Angeles for Sydney later this week.
Initially, Qantas plans to operate a single A380 on routes between Australia and the United Kingdom.
As more of the fleet returns, Qantas will 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," it said in a statement.
"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."
Qantas also said its A380 engines remained subject to a European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) airworthiness directive issued on November 11.
The directive mandates that all the Trent 900 engines undergo certain inspections every 20 flying cycles.
Qantas says it will comply with the directive for A380s brought back into service and for new aircraft entering its fleet.
The airline plans to take delivery of two more A380s by the end of 2010 and another two in early 2011.
Asked if Qantas would seek compensation from Rolls Royce Mr Joyce said: "We will have that dialogue, but now is not the time".
Mr Joyce said Rolls Royce had been "fantastic" during the process to get the fleet back in the air, but he also said the British engine maker was aware of the impact.
Mr Joyce was not ready to put a figure on the likely compensation or cost to the airline from the disruption.
"We have said that our priority continues to be to get all of the aircraft back in the air," he said.
"We are working with Rolls Royce to make sure we have a supply of spare engines to get the other aircraft back into service as quick as possible.
"I want everyone to continue to focus on that, and when the time is appropriate we will have the dialogue with Rolls Royce."