Qantas Defends Safety Record As A380s Resume Flights -- Newtron23/11/20106/12/2010Canberra Zimbabwe368

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Date Posted: Monday, November 29, 10:03:39am
Author: November 27, 2010 23:32 ET (04:32 GMT)28/11/2010 3:32PM
Subject:

Qantas Defends Safety Record As A380s Resume Flights

UPDATE: Qantas Defends Safety Record As A380s Resume Flights
28/11/2010 3:32PM
(Adds detail about grounded 747)

By Rachel Pannett
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

CANBERRA (Dow Jones)--Qantas Ltd. (QAN.AU) Chief Executive Alan Joyce Sunday defended the airline's handling of a string of recent incidents, notably an engine explosion on an Airbus A380 superjumbo earlier this month, as another aircraft was grounded overnight.

Qantas Saturday resumed limited A380 services for the first time since the Nov. 4 explosion forced Qantas to make an emergency landing in Singapore.

The safe departure from Sydney Saturday of A380 Flight QF31 bound for London via Singapore was marred by engine issues that grounded a separate Qantas flight, this time a Boeing Co. 747 aircraft.

That flight, QF1, also scheduled to fly from Sydney to London via Bangkok was delayed after an engine issue was detected while it was taxiing to the runway, a Qantas spokesman said Sunday.

The aircraft returned to the terminal and because there wasn't time to fix the issue--a wiring fault--before Sydney Airport's 11 p.m. curfew, passengers were accommodated in hotels overnight. The 747, carrying 351 passengers, departed at 9.44 a.m. Sunday (2244 GMT) the spokesman said.

The A380's lift off Saturday had been designed as something of a public-relations exercise for Qantas, with Joyce joining passengers on the Singapore leg to demonstrate his confidence in the aircraft. That flight is still on its way from Singapore to London, and is scheduled to land at 6.05 a.m. London time.

Joyce said Qantas's cautious response to the A380 incident--grounding its entire fleet of six for over three weeks--is being viewed positively by many customers.

"These issues...demonstrate a strong positive safety culture, because when we found out a problem with an engine that had a design issue, we grounded the fleet until we knew how we could fix the issue," Joyce said on Australian Broadcasting Corp. television. "I think it'll actually do our brand really good in the medium-to-long-term."

Still, a series of in-air incidents and groundings in recent weeks isn't helping the carrier's share price, which is down some 7% since Nov. 4. The shares closed steady Friday at A$2.67.

Joyce reiterated Sunday it is too early to estimate the cost of the disruptions. But Qantas may seek compensation from Rolls Royce Group PLC (RYCEY, RR.LN), maker of the faulty A380 engine.

-By Rachel Pannett, Dow Jones Newswires; 61 2 6208 0901; rachel.pannett@dowjones.com

Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=Okhe7qozJJBBqRM7WNEdVA%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 27, 2010 23:32 ET (04:32 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc

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