Qantas A380s may fly within 2 days after checks

The airlines Qantas Airways Ltd said it may resume Airbus SAS A380 services within two days after conducting checks following a midair engine explosion.

The blowout, which forced a plane carrying 466 people to make an emergency landing in Singapore yesterday, most likely was the result of a “material failure or a design issue,” Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce told reporters today.

“This issue does not relate to maintenance,” he said. “This is an engine issue.”

Qantas is working with Rolls-Royce Group Plc to inspect the planes’ Trent 900 engines, he said. Roger Hunt, a Sydney-based spokesman for the engine-maker, declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

Singapore Airlines Ltd and Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the only other Trent 900 operators, already resumed A380 flights after grounding planes overnight to conduct checks recommended by Rolls-Royce and Airbus. Sydney-based Qantas is temporarily replacing its six superjumbos with Boeing Co jets as it investigates the blow-out.

The financial effect of the A380 grounding will likely be a “lot less” for Qantas than the closure of European airspace amid volcanic-ash clouds earlier this year, Joyce said. Those disruptions cost the carrier about A$2 million ($2 million) a day, it said at the time.

Qantas fell 1 per cent to A$2.86 at the 4.10 pm close of Sydney trading today, compared with a 1.2 per cent gain by the benchmark ASX 200 Index.