Post date: Nov 08, 2010 2:13:50 PM
Engine maker Rolls-Royce is under pressure after Australian airline Qantas grounds its fleet of 6 Airbus A380s for at least another three days as it investigates what tore apart an engine on one of its superjumbos.
WORLD-A380 ENGINE, Nov 08 - Engine maker Rolls-Royce is under pressure after Australian airline Qantas grounds its fleet of 6 Airbus A380s grounded for at least another three days.
Qantas' decision to keep its six A380 planes grounded for at least three more days is likely to put more pressure on engine maker Rolls-Royce.
The Australian airline is still trying to find out why one of the Rolls Trent 900 engines on this superjumbo failed shortly after take off from Singapore on the way to Sydney.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says problems have now been found on other engines.
Alan Joyce, Qantas CEO, saying:
"Oil leaks have been discovered in the turbine area of three engines. We have removed these engines from the aircraft for further testing. The focus of our investigation has narrowed to the possibility of an oil leakage in the relevant turbine area however investigations on other areas of the engine are continuing in order to rule out other potential issues."
Qantas says it might consider claiming compensation from Airbus or Rolls-Royce - once its A380s are flying again.
The aircraft is the world's largest passenger plane - most of them use engines made by Rolls-Royce.
Singapore Airlines temporarily grounded its A380s while it carried out engine inspections. But it says it didn't find anything concerning.
Shares in the second largest jet engine manufacturer have taken a hammering since Thursday's incident - and have fallen around ten percent.
They continued to slide on Monday morning.
On Friday - a Boeing 747 also operated by Qantas had to make an emergency landing after it suffered problems with its Rolls-Royce engine.
Rolls has remained quiet on the engine issues.
But analysts say there's been a total of four incidents involving several types of Rolls-Royce engines over the past three months.
The company - and its share price - is likely to stay under pressure - until further investigations are complete.
Joanna Partridge, Reuters