Singapore Airlines has no plans to ground its Airbus A380 fleet following the forced landing of a Qantas A380 owing to an engine failure.

"There are no plans as of now to ground our A380 aircraft, and operations are continuing as normal," says an SIA spokesman. "It is premature at this point to speculate and we will await advice from the aircraft and engine manufacturers as the investigation progresses."

Shortly after the engine incident Qantas grounded its entire A380 fleet.

According to FlightGlobal's ACAS database, SIA operates 11 A380 aircraft, with eight on order. As with Qantas, SIA's A380s are powered by Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines.

The Qantas A380 involved in the incident, which had the registration number VH-OQA, had just lifted off en-route from Singapore to Sydney when it suffered the engine failure. Passengers report hearing an explosion, and amateur footage from the Indonesian island of Batam, 20 kilometres from Singapore, shows a large aircraft trailing smoke from its left wing.

When the plane was safely on the ground in Singapore, media photographs showed that the cowling for the number two engine was missing. Photographs also show damage to the aircraft's wing above the engine. TV footage from Batam showed residents picking up debris in the red and white colours of Qantas.

The aircraft had 433 passengers and 26 crew on board, all of whom disembarked without injury.

Airbus and Rolls Royce are assisting with investigations.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news

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