Urgent safety checks ordered on A380 jets

EUROPE’S safety authorities have ordered urgent inspections on one-third of the Airbus A380 fleet after the discovery of wing cracks on the world’s largest jetliner.

No aircraft have been grounded but the inspections must be carried out within six weeks for most of the 22 aircraft placed on a check-up list, which is expected to affect Singapore Airlines, Dubai’s Emirates and Air France.

A handful of the most heavily used aircraft — subjected to at least 1,800 take-offs and landings that impose the most wear and tear on an airframe — must be examined within four days in a process likely to take each jet out of service for 24 hours.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) acted after European plane maker Airbus disclosed two sets of cracks on its A380 superjumbos just two weeks apart, and barely four years after the 525-seat double-decker passenger jet entered service.

The second type of cracks, which like the first appeared on a bracket joining the exterior to the ribs inside the wings, was “more significant” and could develop on other aircraft if the problem is not addressed, the European agency said.

“This condition, if notdetected and corrected, could potentially affect the structural integrity of the aeroplane,” EASA said in an airworthiness directive issued yesterday.

There was no immediate reaction from Airbus, but while waiting for the EASA verdict, its chief executive moved to reassure passengers over the safety of its best-known model.

“It is embarrassing, but we will do everything to ensure safety is not compromised,” Tom Enders said. “We have a pretty good understanding, but the investigation is ongoing. What we have developed already is a repair solution and this is what we will apply on the various aircraft if and where it is necessary,” he told CNN on Thursday.

The episode comes 14 months after a Rolls-Royce engine blowout on a Qantas A380 triggered global headlines. It was during a $130 million (€100m) repair job on that same aircraft that the hairline wing cracks first came to light.

Airbus and operator airlines have boasted of strong demand for seats on the A380 as passengers test out its claim of quiet cabins, but Airbus will be keen to ensure the latest incidents do not affect its popularity.

Such concerns would magnify if they affected the decision of airlines to buy the jet, though investors do not yet display any anxiety over that happening.

Airbus said on Thursday the cracked parts were “non-critical” and insisted the A380 was safe to fly. Both Airbus and US rival Boeing are heavily regulated on safety matters.

The cracks are another test of Airbus’s morale just as the EADS subsidiary recovers from years of delays, having hit its A380 delivery target for the first time in 2011. The A380 — developed at an estimated cost of €12 billion in Britain, France, Germany and Spain — has room on its wings to park 70 cars.