Qantas Resumes Airbus A380 Flights
A380 passengers reassured with Qantas CEO on board
Australian airline Qantas resumed service of its A380 fleet Saturday for the first time since grounding the jumbo jets after an engine mishap earlier this month.
Chief Executive Alan Joyce was on board when the first A380 in the Qantas fleet of six took off from Sydney's airport Saturday evening, said Tom Woodward, a Qantas spokesman.
"He'll be traveling as far as Singapore," Woodward said.
The flight was full when it departed for London via Singapore, according to Woodward.
The plane that took off Saturday was in Los Angeles, California, when Qantas grounded the fleet. The airline's engineers replaced two of the plane's engines in Los Angeles, then ferried the plane to Sydney with only pilots aboard so it would be ready for the first passenger flight.
A mid-air engine failure November 4 forced a Sydney-bound Qantas A380 to turn back to Singapore. After the incident Qantas grounded its six A380s.
One of the replacement engines on the plane that took off Saturday came from another Qantas plane, the second from the engines' manufacturer, Rolls Royce, Woodward said.
"We have thoroughly inspected all of the A380s," he said.
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