By Andy Pasztor
Oct. 12, 2017 11:18 p.m. ET
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U.S. air-safety regulators have issued an emergency order requiring airlines to inspect engines on roughly 120
Airbus EADSY 0.25% A380 superjumbo jets world-wide, prompted by an engine that violently broke apart during an
Air France... flight at the end of September.
The safety directive issued Thursday by the Federal Aviation Administration covers all engines manufactured for Airbus SE A380s by a joint venture comprising
General Electric Co.
GE .... and
United Technologies Corp.’s
UTX ... Pratt & Whitney unit. The partnership supplies engines for roughly 60 percent of the global A380 fleet, with Emirates Airline operating the majority of the affected four-engine, double-decker aircraft.
The move by the FAA, which certified the engine as did European regulators 10 years ago, requires inspections to start as quickly as two weeks, depending on the number of trips they have flown. The directive follows a nonbinding service bulletin issued by the engine alliance.