By Sonali Paul
MELBOURNE, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Qantas Airways has been told modifications may be needed to the Rolls-Royce engines on its Airbus A380 fleet and it cannot predict when the aircraft will fly again, Chief Executive Alan Joyce said on Saturday.
'I'm not going to put a deadline on it,' Joyce said at an event to celebrate the airline's 90th anniversary.
The Australian airline's six A380s have been grounded for nine days, after an engine partly disintegrated in mid-flight, forcing a fully-laden A380 to make an emergency landing in the worst incident to date for the world's largest passenger jet.
Rolls-Royce, maker of the Trent 900 engine that partly blew up after an oil fire, has said the failure was caused by a specific component in the engine's turbine and said it would replace the relevant module on its engines.
Joyce said Rolls-Royce had recommended further checks on A380 engines worldwide and proposed modifications.
'We're obviously conducting those checks,' he said.
'They are proposing a number of different modifications and a number of different changes. So we will be working closely with them to get the aircraft back in the air as soon as we can. There's no timeframe on when that will occur.'
Joyce said the aircraft struck by the explosion would not be written off.
Qantas has denied reports its six A380s planes would remain out of action for months. But it will probably take more than a few days to seek clearance from Australia's aviation regulator to fly the aircraft, a person familiar with the process said.
'Such a submission won't be happening until the second half of next week at the earliest and possibly later, so I don't think it's an accident Qantas drew up a contingency plan not to fly the aircraft well into next month,' the person said.
Qantas has published an interim schedule until late November that excludes the A380, but said the schedule at short notice.
Rolls-Royce shares hit a record high at 661.5 pence on Nov. 1, three days before the engine failure. The incident saw the stock lose up to 14 percent of its value to a 563 pence low on Monday. It ended the week at 611 pence after it said the profit impact from its difficulties would be modest.
Airbus said on Friday its earnings may be dented and deliveries could be set back because of the A380 engine difficulties. It added that the scale of delays will depend on the amount of work needed by Rolls-Royce to fix the problem.
Keeping the A380 on track and lowering production costs has been a headache for Airbus, even before the Qantas scare.
(Additional reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Ron Popeski)
((sonali.paul@thomsonreuters.com; +61 3 9286 1419; Reuters Messaging: sonali.paul.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: ROLLSROYCE/QANTAS
SYDNEY, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Operators of the Airbus A380 superjumbo aircraft may have to replace another 29 Rolls-Royce engines after an investigation into a Qantas engine failure identified problems, the Sydney Morning Herald said on Monday.
Singapore Airlines may have to replace up to 20 Trent 900 engines, Australia's Qantas may need to replace another seven engines on top of the three already removed, while German carrier Lufthansa could be forced to find two new replacements, the paper said without citing its sources.
Rolls-Royce has been scrambling to find a fix for the Trent 900 after an engine partly disintegrated in mid-flight Nov 4, forcing a fully-laden Qantas A380 to make an emergency landing in the worst incident to date for the world's largest passenger jet.
Rolls-Royce said the failure was caused by a specific component in the engine's turbine and said it would replace the relevant module on its engines.
A Qantas spokesman would not confirm the Sydney Morning Herald report and said while more engines may need to be replaced, Qantas was not in position to put a number on it.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi) (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) Keywords: ROLLSROYCE/ (balazs.koranyi@thomsonreuters.com; +612 9373 1816; balazs.koranyi.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
MELBOURNE, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Qantas Airways has been told modifications may be needed to the Rolls-Royce engines on its Airbus A380 fleet and it cannot predict when the aircraft will fly again, Chief Executive Alan Joyce said on Saturday.
'I'm not going to put a deadline on it,' Joyce said at an event to celebrate the airline's 90th anniversary.
The Australian airline's six A380s have been grounded for nine days, after an engine partly disintegrated in mid-flight, forcing a fully-laden A380 to make an emergency landing in the worst incident to date for the world's largest passenger jet.
Rolls-Royce, maker of the Trent 900 engine that partly blew up after an oil fire, has said the failure was caused by a specific component in the engine's turbine and said it would replace the relevant module on its engines.
Joyce said Rolls-Royce had recommended further checks on A380 engines worldwide and proposed modifications.
'We're obviously conducting those checks,' he said.
'They are proposing a number of different modifications and a number of different changes. So we will be working closely with them to get the aircraft back in the air as soon as we can. There's no timeframe on when that will occur.'
Joyce said the aircraft struck by the explosion would not be written off.
Qantas has denied reports its six A380s planes would remain out of action for months. But it will probably take more than a few days to seek clearance from Australia's aviation regulator to fly the aircraft, a person familiar with the process said.
'Such a submission won't be happening until the second half of next week at the earliest and possibly later, so I don't think it's an accident Qantas drew up a contingency plan not to fly the aircraft well into next month,' the person said.
Qantas has published an interim schedule until late November that excludes the A380, but said the schedule at short notice.
Rolls-Royce shares hit a record high at 661.5 pence on Nov. 1, three days before the engine failure. The incident saw the stock lose up to 14 percent of its value to a 563 pence low on Monday. It ended the week at 611 pence after it said the profit impact from its difficulties would be modest.
Airbus said on Friday its earnings may be dented and deliveries could be set back because of the A380 engine difficulties. It added that the scale of delays will depend on the amount of work needed by Rolls-Royce to fix the problem.
Keeping the A380 on track and lowering production costs has been a headache for Airbus, even before the Qantas scare.
(Additional reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Ron Popeski)
((sonali.paul@thomsonreuters.com; +61 3 9286 1419; Reuters Messaging: sonali.paul.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: ROLLSROYCE/QANTAS
SYDNEY, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Operators of the Airbus A380 superjumbo aircraft may have to replace another 29 Rolls-Royce engines after an investigation into a Qantas engine failure identified problems, the Sydney Morning Herald said on Monday.
Singapore Airlines may have to replace up to 20 Trent 900 engines, Australia's Qantas may need to replace another seven engines on top of the three already removed, while German carrier Lufthansa could be forced to find two new replacements, the paper said without citing its sources.
Rolls-Royce has been scrambling to find a fix for the Trent 900 after an engine partly disintegrated in mid-flight Nov 4, forcing a fully-laden Qantas A380 to make an emergency landing in the worst incident to date for the world's largest passenger jet.
Rolls-Royce said the failure was caused by a specific component in the engine's turbine and said it would replace the relevant module on its engines.
A Qantas spokesman would not confirm the Sydney Morning Herald report and said while more engines may need to be replaced, Qantas was not in position to put a number on it.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi) (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) Keywords: ROLLSROYCE/ (balazs.koranyi@thomsonreuters.com; +612 9373 1816; balazs.koranyi.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.