Joyce set to board first Qantas A380 flight after three weeks of service hiatus
To further bolster Qantas Airways Ltd's re-invigorated safety measures despite its A380 fleet's engine woes, chief executive Alan Joyce is boarding QF31's Sydney flight on its way to London, the first time the aircraft would fly again following the fleet's grounding more than three weeks ago.
Mr Joyce is hoping that the symbolic act would serve as a strong message to the travelling public that the Airbus superjumbos are safer than ever after the fixes applied by Rolls Royce on some of the engines affected by oil staining, which the Trent 900 engine manufacturer has concluded was the cause of engine fires and blow outs on some of Qantas' flights.
The past three weeks, according to Qantas, were not only very busy but costly too for the national carrier as a company spokesman told AAP on Friday that the full resources and attention of the company were collectively trained on getting its A380 fleet back flying in the air.
Qantas said that it was so focused on safety concerns that it deliberately designed the Saturday flight of QF31 to be as silent as possible though it admitted that indirect endorsements from popular celebrities like David Beckham offered additional premiums for the airline's campaign of winning back the trust of its passengers.
During his Thursday flight to Australia, Beckham and his LA Galaxy teammates posed for pictures on an A380, which is assumed to have gained considerable positive attention to the Airbus aircraft's better safety conditions at this time.
As Qantas had previously clarified, the A380s return to flight services would be gradual and every aircraft would be flying a bit below the full-power capacity of its engines, with only a single A380 scheduled to service its destinations between Australia and the United Kingdom.
Along with the A380s gradual resumption of international services, Qantas is also endeavouring to gather solid arguments on its planned compensation claims against Rolls Royce, which has so far replaced three engines on superjumbos servicing the airline's long-haul flights.
Qantas has already identified a total of 14 Trent 900 engines that it deems must be replaced by Rolls Royce as the carrier is mulling the return of three more A380s on its international destinations by Christmas and in time for the onset of the industry's traditional peak season.