Australia's Qantas Airways reached an agreement with Rolls-Royce in relation to the uncontained engine failure on an Airbus A380 in November.
The carrier said that the settlement includes the end of legal proceedings that it had initiated after the incident, which resulted in the grounding of the airline's entire A380 fleet for several weeks.
While the terms are "confidential", said the Oneworld alliance member, the settlement will amount to Australian dollars (A$) 95 million in its 2011 fiscal year profit and loss statement.
The uncontained IP disc failure on board the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine on 4 November was due to a manufacturing defect in an oil feed pipe, which resulted in a wall thickness reduction, according to an initial report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). This problem only affected the early variants of the engine. A final report is expected in mid-2012.
Qantas grounded its A380 fleet to carry out a comprehensive engine inspection and replacement programme. It resumed services to London on 27 November, and flights to Los Angeles resumed on 16 January.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
