Qantas A380 Grounded in Sydney After Cracks Found in Wing Parts

Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Qantas Airways Ltd. has taken one of its Airbus SAS A380 passenger jets out of service for as long as a week after discovering cracks in wing parts, the airline said today.

The Charles Kingsford Smith aircraft has been grounded since Feb. 5, spokesman Thomas Woodward said by phone, confirming a report today in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

The cracking is different to so-called “type two” fractures that prompted Europe’s air safety regulator to order checks to about a third of the global A380 fleet last month, he said. The 36 small fractures are similar to cracking traced to manufacturing defects previously detected in a separate Qantas A380 aircraft currently grounded in Singapore.

The Charles Kingsford Smith has flown between 20 and 30 times since the cracks were discovered Jan. 7 in routine checks by the airline after it experienced severe turbulence on a flight from London to Singapore, he said. The aircraft was grounded after Airbus last week requested additional checks based on data sent by Qantas following the initial inspection, Woodward said.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Fickling in Sydney at dfickling@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Johnson at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net