Singapore Airlines opts for engine changes on its A380s, grounds 3 aircrafts
As questions on the integrity of Rolls Royce engines that power the A380s continue to mount, Singapore Airlines has decided to replace them and ordered three of the carrier's superjumbos grounded pending the installation of new engines.
Singapore Airlines said on Wednesday that the move was meant for precautionary engine changes and would affect aircrafts currently stationed in Melbourne, Sydney and London, which were all prohibited from flying until their Rolls Royce powerhouse were replaced.
An airline spokeswoman said that the decision was made following routine inspections as she added that further analysis on the engine blowout episode suffered by Qantas Airways flight using the same engine on A380s prompted for "precautionary engine changes on three of our A380s."
The move also resulted to the aircraft change for the flight emanating from Melbourne on Wednesday morning, a measure that would also affect the airline's flight out of Sydney later this afternoon, the spokeswoman reminded.
Singapore Airlines requested for understanding from travellers that would be affected by the adjustments as delays may be experienced on both service routes.
The carrier said that it received recommendations from Rolls Royce for more inspections on the three engines concerned following the discovery of oil staining but the company decided to take a step further removing the engine altogether to possibly determine the real cause of the problem.
Earlier, Qantas Airways was compelled to ground its entire fleet of Airbus A380s after the near-crash episodes that plagued two of its flights last week.
The flight prohibition was extended until Thursday as investigators isolated incidences of oil leaks on the Rolls Royce engine turbines, which Qantas said could have resulted to a slightly higher power rating operations for two Trent 900s that power the company's A380s.
However, Qantas clarified that the relation between the oil leaks and the engine blowouts were still being validated by an ongoing investigation by both representative of the airline and Rolls Royce.
Aside from Qantas, Singapore Airlines and German-based Lufthansa has been utilising A380s with Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines and appeared unfazed by the Qantas Flight 32 incident last week as it announced on Monday that no immediate concerns were forthcoming following its internal inspections of A380s servicing its routes.