Emergency inspections ordered for global fleet including Qantas
Updated ,first published
A number of Airbus A380 super jumbos around the world will be grounded for emergency inspections after the European air safety regulator detected cracks in the interior of the plane’s wing.
Qantas has an A380 that requires inspection before being re-certified for flying under a directive from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
“It has been determined that cracks found on some aircraft may reduce the structural integrity of the wing,” the agency wrote in its emergency airworthiness directive.
“To address this potentially unsafe situation, Airbus has determined that an additional special detailed review is warranted.”
The safety agency is requiring operators of the affected A380s, identified by their serial numbers, to carry out detailed inspections within strict compliance periods before the planes resume flying.
A380s are the largest passenger aircraft in the world. Their wings have front and rear spars (essentially the longitudinal metal bar of the wing) and center spars. Examining the metal would require engineers to go inside the wing from the fuel tank and inspect it, an industry source said.
According to global flight tracker FlightAware, the affected Qantas aircraft, registered VH-OQI, flew from London Heathrow to Dresden, Germany, on March 8 and has remained there since.
A Qantas spokesman said the aircraft was under heavy maintenance and the airworthiness directive had “no impact on Qantas flights”.
“The aircraft was already under scheduled maintenance and we will comply with any additional requirements as a result of this airworthiness directive,” the spokesman said.
Qantas operates 10 A380s, nine of which are in service. Dubai-based Emirates, Qantas’ codeshare partner on some flights to Europe, has a fleet of 116 A380s, of which 97 are currently in service, according to the Planespotters website.
The safety agency identified two batches of A380s: one batch requiring inspection before the next flight and the second batch “within 25 flight cycles” falling within the scope of the affected Qantas aircraft.
Airbus said an earlier airworthiness directive had instructed airlines to inspect the center spars of A380s, but more specific findings prompted the aircraft maker to notify the safety agency and recommend inspections on affected planes.
Airbus said five planes required urgent inspection. Depending on the inspection results, Airbus will evaluate with the safety agency whether repairs are required.
News of the emergency inspections comes amid reports that Qantas is looking for new planes to replace its A380s, which could be Airbus A350s or Boeing 787s.
Popular with passengers for their larger cabins, Qantas’ A380s have also suffered other problems recently, including a wing slat that came loose on a flight to Los Angeles in December.
In 2023, Airbus also announced that it would inspect A380s for wing spar cracking; This was an issue Emirates reported finding on aircraft stored specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority backed the European body’s move and issued an emergency airworthiness directive for local airlines.
“All European Emergency Airworthiness Directives automatically apply to all Australian registered aircraft and we have distributed the directive to the industry today,” CASA said in a statement. he said.
An Australian expert with direct knowledge of the situation described the detected mast cracks as “serious enough that an emergency airworthiness directive had been issued”.
“Unfortunately the Airbus A380 suddenly had a lot of wing breakage issues.”
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