Singapore Airlines grounds three A380s due to engines

SYDNEY: Singapore Airlines grounded three of its A380 superjumbos Wednesday after tests uncovered problems with the planes' Rolls-Royce engines less than a week after an engine on a Qantas A380 exploded shortly after take-off. Tests revealed oil stains in three engines on three of the airline's A380s, Singapore Airlines said in a statement. The planes, in Melbourne, Sydney and London, will be flown to Singapore, where they'll be fitted with new engines, the airline said. "We apologise to our customers for flight disruptions that may result and we seek their understanding," airline spokesman Nicholas Ionides said in a statement.

Last week, Qantas grounded its fleet of A380s — the world's newest and largest airliner — after one of the aircraft's Rolls-Royce engines burst during a flight from Singapore to Sydney. The explosion showered debris over Indonesia's Batam island. The plane made a safe emergency landing in Singapore. On Monday, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said tests had uncovered oil leaks in the turbine area of three engines on three different A380s. All six of the Australian airline's A380s remained grounded Wednesday.

London-based Rolls-Royce, an aerospace, power systems and defense company that manufactures engines for A380s by Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Germany's Lufthansa, had recommended a series of checks on the Trent 900 engines. Lufthansa and Singapore briefly grounded their planes last week but quickly resumed services after completing checks. On Wednesday, Singapore said Rolls-Royce had recommended further detailed inspections of three engines after additional analysis uncovered the oil stains. Singapore said the engine changes don't affect its eight other A380s at this point. Rolls-Royce released a statement on Monday saying it had made progress in understanding what caused the Qantas engine to burst, but offered no details on what that cause might be. Joyce said Monday that Qantas was focusing its investigation on the oil leaks, which he said were abnormal and should not be occurring on new engines. - AP