Rolls-Royce claims it’s near on solving Qantas engine blowout as shares recover
Rolls-Royce has reportedly zeroed in on the specific cause of the engine blow out suffered by Qantas Flight 32 that forced the aircraft to an emergency landing in Singapore last week.
The manufacturer of the Trent 900 engine, which powers the Qantas Airbus A380, revealed on Tuesday that it has made considerable progress in isolating the real cause of the mid-air engine blow out that almost caused the lives of hundreds of passengers and crews on board at the plane at that time.
While specifics have yet to be provided on why the Trent powerhouse being used by A380s broke apart, Rolls-Royce said that a continuing investigation would be undertaken as the company assured that it would fully cooperate with operators of the aircraft and aviation regulators.
The Rolls-Royce statement was issued following the decision of Qantas Airways to extend the grounding of all its six A380s as inspectors found that a number of aircraft engines were also suffering from oil leaks.
This was confirmed by Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce who added that the leaks breached the tolerance threshold of normal operation and maintenance standard, hinting too that the oil leaks could be the major contributor of the near-mishap last week.
Mr Joyce said that the defective engines have been torn off from the A380s for Rolls-Royce to examine them and determine the real cause of the Flight 32 incident that halted a significant portion of Qantas' domestic and international services.
After keeping mum on the engine glitch that it manufactured, analysts said that Rolls-Royce had to break its silence to arrest the further bleeding of its shares value, which already shed by up to $2.4 billion following its stock dip of close to 14 percent.
The decision seemed to be reaping benefits so far as Rolls-Royce shares regained some strength by up to 2.7 percent on Tuesday morning, right after the company released its official statement on the issue.