Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority has launched a special review into Qantas's safety standards following several high-profile operational incidents in the past month. The regulator stresses, however, that it believes the airline's standards remain good.
On announcing the review, CASA says it had no evidence to suggest safety standards had fallen, but believed it was necessary following the recent incidents.
The most serious incident, on 25 July, involved a Boeing 747-400 that was forced to make an emergency landing at Manila after a fuselage rupture that followed a suspected emergency oxygen cylinder explosion (Flight International, 5-11 August). None on board was injured.
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At least two other minor operational incidents involving Qantas aircraft have received media attention since. The most recent was on 2 August, when a Boeing 767-300 bound for Manila returned to Sydney as a result of a suspected hydraulic system problem.
Qantas says it will work with CASA on its review of some of the carrier's operations. "Our operations are first class and are continually subject to the scrutiny of Australian and overseas regulators as well as our own internal audits," says executive general manager of Qantas Engineering, David Cox.
"We have no issue with this latest review and CASA says it has no evidence to suggest that safety standards at Qantas have fallen. We agree and are totally confident these checks will confirm the integrity of our engineering and maintenance operations and our commitment to safety."
He adds: "CASA regularly audits a range of Qantas's operations. Qantas Engineering, for example, successfully completed 13 audits in the last year alone, and a recent comprehensive audit of Qantas's air operator's certificate resulted in the airline's operating approval again being confirmed."
Qantas also says the 2 August incident "was a routine and appropriate response to an issue with the aircraft's hydraulic system". It adds: "In this case, the flightcrew responded appropriately, emergency services were on standby at Sydney airport as a precaution, there was absolutely no safety issue at any time and, after checks, the aircraft was back in service 8h later."
Source: Flight International
