The Guardian are reporting the following
The leading safety adviser in global aviation has added to calls for investigation of the Airbus engine cowl latches that triggered an emergency landing at Heathrow by a British Airways plane, describing the number of incidents as "very significant".
Günther Matschnigg, the International Air Transport Association's safety chief, said it was "definitely an area we need to look into".
Last week an interim report from British investigators said that the emergency occurred after a BA maintenance team failed to ensure the cowls – the engine coverings – were properly locked. The 40kg parts were torn away from both the engines as the BA flight to Oslo took off from Heathrow on 24 May, with one causing damage to the Airbus A319 plane's wing, fuselage and landing gear, leading to one engine catching fire in the air.
The Air Accident Investigation Bureau's report pointed to the difficulty in checking whether the latches on the cowls were properly secured.
Airbus reported in July 2012 that there had been 32 incidents of cowls being lost on the A319 and similar models.
John Leahy, the chief operating officer of Airbus, said that the number of incidents was small and the company had no plans at the present time to review the engine latches. "You just have to follow appropriate maintenance. People have to be careful.
"Every two seconds a [A320 family Airbus] plane is taking off or landing."
However, asked if the numbers were statistically insignificant, Matschnigg, Iata's senior vice-president in charge of safety, said: "I would count those kinds of incidents as very significant … it is definitely an area we need to look into."
He said it was "absolutely" time for Airbus to review the latches. "When you have an incident like this it is very important that the community – the aircraft manufacturer, the engine manufacturer and the airline – look into how this happened. It might be an improvement of the latches or the procedure."
Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways' parent company IAG, said he would not comment while the investigation was ongoing.
Passengers on flight BA762, who feared for their lives as the plane returned to Heathrow on one, exposed engine, are consulting a specialist aviation lawyer with a view to legal action.
The 75 passengers and crew aboard BA762 were evacuated via emergency slides on returning to Heathrow. Both the airport's runways were closed briefly, leading to BA cancelling short-haul flights for much of the day, leaving thousands stranded.