Qantas to resume A380 flights but on limited basis

Qantas will resume flying Airbus A380 superjumbos this week on a limited basis, giving Airbus and engine maker Rolls-Royce a confidence boost after an engine failure crippled a jet with 466 people this month.
Europe's aviation safety authority EASA also chipped in with some positive news, lightening its compulsory inspection regime for the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine, after one such engine partially disintegrated on a Sydney-bound Qantas flight on November 4, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Singapore.
Qantas will put two of its six A380s in the air from Saturday but the others will take "some time" to return, pending engine fixes, and the A380 — the world's largest passenger jet with an average list price of around $350 mln — will stay off routes to Los Angeles, among the its most lucrative, the airline said on Tuesday.
"Out of abundance of caution we've taken 16 engines that we regard as having a bigger likelihood of having a problem on them and as a consequence those engines will be modified…," Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce told a news conference.
"This is a worldwide fleet issue so it's not just engines Qantas has, it's engines that other operators also have and this is an issue that will have to be resolved for all of the other operators," he added.
Still, the Qantas move to put the A380 back in the sky and the EU's new directive are welcome news for Airbus whose much-delayed 12 bln euro ($16.3 bln) A380 programme has struggled to attract airlines in some key markets.
Rolls-Royce concluded the incident was caused by an oil fire but that the issue was confined to a specific component. It has since been scrambling to find a fix and replace faulty engines with new turbines.
That conclusion prompted the EU to implement inspection measures, which analysts said were so time consuming they could take planes out of rotation every ten days or so, costing airlines revenue.
However, citing progress in the analysis, the EU will no longer require airlines to conduct extensive ground idle runs and turbine blades checks inside the engines — time consuming check.
Qantas replaced two engines on the first aircraft that will return to service, but declined to detail other engine changes, saying these had not been finalised.
Qantas shares rose 0.4% on Tuesday, outperforming a 1.1% fall on the broader market, but are still down 8% since the November 4 incident. Rolls-Royce shares are down almost 10% in the same period.
Singapore Airlines, the biggest operator of Rolls-Royce powered Airbus A380s, has already replaced engines on three aircraft and said it remained in compliance with air safety directives.
On top of the two aircraft returning to service, Qantas will take delivery of two new Airbus A380s before year-end, giving it four superjumbos for the busy Christmas and southern hemisphere summer holiday season.