Singapore Air grounded A380s
 

News just came in

on

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-...110-17mwq.html

The fallout from Qantas's A380 mid-air emergency has escalated after Singapore Airlines today took three of its superjumbos out of service to replace their Rolls Royce engines.

Singapore Airlines grounded the aircraft for "precautionary engine changes" over concerns raised during inspections, an airline spokeswoman said today.

One aircraft in Melbourne, one in Sydney and another in London have been forbidden to fly until the engines are replaced.

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A Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 at Changi Airport. Photo: Reuters

Passengers on the Australian flights are being shunted to other services while the work is done.

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"Based on further analysis of inspection findings as the investigation into last week's [Qantas] incident progresses, we are going to be carrying out precautionary engine changes on three of our A380s," the spokeswoman said.

"That explains the aircraft change out of Melbourne this morning, and that's also going to impact our A380 fight out of Sydney at 4.30pm. We apologise for any disruption this causes."

The spokeswoman said the delay to Melbourne passengers would be "about two hours" and travellers would be put on the airline's later services.

The airline said that Rolls-Royce had recommended further detailed inspections of three engines – one on each aircraft – as a "result of oil staining".

"This is to ensure that the cause of the oil staining can be determined," a spokesman said.

Qantas has grounded its fleet of six Airbus A380 aircraft until at least late tomorrow, after the investigation into last Thursday's near-disaster was narrowed to oil leaks in the turbines.

Just two days ago, Singapore Airlines had said that it had carried out checks on all of the engines used on its A380s late last week and had "absolutely no findings of concern".

Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa had been operating their A380s, which use the same Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines as Qantas, after the incident involving QF32 last Thursday.

Qantas has said that engines on its A380s operated on a "slightly higher" power rating than the other two airlines' Trent 900s, and whether this was relevant to last week's incident was being investigated.

SQ222 9V-SKJ has departed Sydney early at 1503LT. It also performed an early slightly derated rotation, probably means no pax on board?

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2...9Y7702A800.jpg

just tech and cabin crew, the one in MEL left around noon and there is one flying back from London empty.

I figured that was you that was out at the beach this afternoon!

I too was there and chanced a shot of this A380, only hours after I heard about the groundings. I'll direct link my shot from my Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...8&id=708691954


Was impressed at least to see how soon it was rotating though! :)

Hey guys,

Any info on the other two regos?

Cheers

M

I always wonder what the pilots get up to with no Pax onboard...

Maybe just a little inverted action every once in a while? High G turns? Loop the loops??

Just joking :P

SKA and SKC are the other two.

So the 1st and 3rd A380 and then a much later A380 delivered to SQ.

Very sad time for the industry at the moment with the A380 issues and now the B787 issue.

Yes could be much worse but still

9V-SKH is at this time airborne over the English Channel heading over between Rotterdam and Amsterdam as flight SIA-321. watching on ADSB from here in Cairns. ( no joke) FL-350 510Knots looks like its heading home.

I was unsure as to whether to start a new thread on this, however, Lufthansa has replaced a Rolls-Royce engine on one of its Airbus A380 superjumbos after maintenance checks detected a problem.

Lufthansa did not specify the problem, but said it was minor and not connected with the oil leaks that have grounded Qantas and Singapore Airlines. The says the aircraft in question is back in service and Lufthansa's scheduled A380 flights have not been affected by the engine change.

Great, thanks Sarah.

And which Qantas birds have actually had an engine change?

Cheers

M

How many spare engines do airlines have, these engines would be very expensive "little numbers" and would seem unlikely that they would have many just sitting around on shelves!
Similarly, I couldn't imagine that RR would have many spares either unless they start robbing the engines destined for planes on the production line.

Engine manufacturesrs will do anything to get aircraft back in the air.Think about it these problems will affect FUTURE sales if they do not get onto it ASAP.

Evening all,

http://airlineroute.net/2010/11/11/sq-380-nov10/

From the SQ website

Details are as follows (ALL TIMES LISTED ARE LOCAL).

10 - 11 November 2010

SQ 221, Singapore-Sydney, scheduled to depart 2035hrs, will be operated by a B777-300 aircraft.

SQ 227, Singapore-Melbourne, scheduled to depart 2100hrs, will be operated by a B747-400 aircraft.


11 – 12 November 2010

SQ 212, Sydney – Singapore, scheduled to depart 0915hrs, will be operated by a B777-300 aircraft.

SQ 238, Melbourne – Singapore, scheduled to depart 1110hrs, will be operated by a B747-400 aircraft.


12 – 16 November 2010

SQ 221, Singapore - Sydney, scheduled to depart 2035hrs, will be operated by a B747-400 aircraft.

SQ 227, Singapore – Melbourne, scheduled to depart 2100hrs, will be operated by a B777-300 aircraft.


12 - 17 November 2010

SQ 222, Sydney – Singapore, scheduled to depart 1630hrs, will be operated by a B777-300 aircraft.

SQ 231, Singapore – Sydney, scheduled to depart 0035hrs, will be operated by a B777-300 aircraft.


13 – 17 November 2010

SQ 212, Sydney – Singapore, scheduled to depart 0915hrs, will be operated by a B747-400 aircraft.

SQ 238, Melbourne – Singapore, scheduled to depart 1110hrs, will be operated by a B777-300 aircraft.


Singapore Airlines will also mount the following supplementary flights to and from Sydney and Melbourne on these days:

12 – 14 November 2010

SQ 261, Singapore - Melbourne, scheduled to depart 2115hrs, will be operated by a B777-300 aircraft.

13 – 15 November 2010

SQ 262, Melbourne - Singapore, scheduled to depart 1535hrs, will be operated by a B777-300 aircraft.


12 – 15 November 2010

SQ 265, Singapore - Sydney, scheduled to depart 0050hrs, will be operated by a B777-300 aircraft.

SQ 266, Sydney - Singapore, scheduled to depart 1615hrs, will be operated by a B777-300 aircraft.

Thought I'd follow up my previous reply properly with the shots I got last Wednesday

http://www.theintercityplatform.com/...y/_MG_9069.jpg
http://www.theintercityplatform.com/...y/_MG_9072.jpg
http://www.theintercityplatform.com/...y/_MG_9087.jpg

Also the rest of the photos from my past week of spotting can be found here


Enjoy! :)

For anyone interested in tomorrow's SQ flights

15th Nov
SQ221/ SQ212: 9V-SMU (1000th 747, due to leave fleet at year end)
SQ231 : 9V-SYE (B773 Star Alliance)

Evening all,

For 18th Nov

SQ 221 / SQ 212 is 9V-SMU.

What ive heard is that CASA have banned Singapore airlines from operating the 380 in Australian airspace. They're chasing them down for flying one out of Melbourne I think after the ban was enforced.

Are A380 flights between Singapore and Europe still flying as per normal? I'm flying to Paris with Singapore Airlines next month and have both SYD-SIN and SIN-CDG legs booked on A380s. Fingers crossed I get to fly on at least one A380.

Yes all other A380 flights are operating as normal as far as I know

As usual Australia gets the old planes again and the sub-standard treatment.

Although I don't think CASA is happy with the A380's operating in/out of Australia

Given CASA are a government regulator, wouldn't such a directive have been published on their website with all the others?

CASA quietly grumbling about something I can understand, but actually banning SQ from operating the A380? Sounds a bit like rumour that's snowballed to me.

Thanks Andrew. Hopefully all will be relatively back to normal by the time I go, but good to know my chances of an A380 flight are not totally dashed.

It seems that A380's are not coming back to the SIN-MEL/SYD route for months ?

Can anyone confirm this ?

Evening all,

From: http://airlineroute.net/2010/11/28/sq-380-dec10/

That would be great if true :)

Fingers crossed!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks

Great to see SIA 744 on SQ222 flight for a while. Some great photo Op with good light !

Singapore Airlines from 10DEC10 is resuming Airbus A380 service to Australia, with 1 of 2 Daily Singapore – Sydney flight to be operated by A380 once again.

Details:

Singapore – Sydney A380 service resumptions
SQ231/222 eff 10DEC11 (11DEC10 from SYD)
SQ221/212 eff 17DEC11 (18DEC10 from SYD, remains unchanged)

Source = Airline Routes

(P.S I'm pretty sure that they mean resuming flights 10DEC this year hahaha.

Very exciting and good news to get the SQ A380's back to SYD and then back to MEL in about a week!

:D

I assume the A380 has been in/out of SYD over the last few days as planned ?

See also http://www.yssyforum.net/board/showthread.php?t=6218

Grahame's http://www.16right.com/ has picked up 9V-SKB a few times, any time SQ222 or SQ231 has been picked up:

Another week of no A380's to MEL and only 1 to SYD

15 December 2010

Singapore Airlines has resumed A380 operations on SQ 231 (Singapore-Sydney) and SQ 222 (Sydney-Singapore).

As we continue with precautionary inspections on our Airbus A380 fleet, alternate aircraft will be deployed in place of A380s on certain flights to and from Sydney and Melbourne until 22 December 2010. For more details of these changes, please refer to this document.


:mad:

It seems only 9V-SKB have been doing SIN-SYD-SIN turn

Any other reg since 11 Dec resumption of service?

The A380 is coming back to MEL for a few days....

SQ238 10-Dec-10 20-Dec-10 MEL SIN 744
SQ238 21-Dec-10 23-Dec-10 MEL SIN 388
SQ238 24-Dec-10 26-Mar-11 MEL SIN 773

SQ227 09-Dec-10 19-Dec-10 SIN MEL 744
SQ227 20-Dec-10 22-Dec-10 SIN MEL 388
SQ227 23-Dec-10 26-Mar-11 SIN MEL 773

Is their a date for when they will return for daily ops?

Not that I am aware of :(

Just read on another Forum and also on the Singapore Air website


18 December 2010

Singapore Airlines will be resuming all scheduled Airbus A380 operations to and from both Melbourne and Sydney.

The resumption of A380 services on SQ 227 (Singapore - Melbourne) and SQ 228 (Melbourne - Singapore) will take effect from 20 December and 21 December, respectively. Prior to that, supplementary flight SQ 263 (Singapore - Sydney - Melbourne) will operate from Singapore until 19 December 2010, and from Sydney and Melbourne until 20 December 2010.

A380 services will also be restored on SQ 221 (Singapore - Sydney) and SQ 212 (Sydney - Singapore) from 22 and 23 December 2010 respectively.

For details of the aircraft changes resulting from the A380 inspections for the period of 18 - 22 December, please refer to this document.

SIA will continue to work with Rolls-Royce to carry out regular engine checks and will continue to comply fully with an Airworthiness Directive of the European Aviation Safety Agency that is intended to ensure the continued safe operation of the Airbus A380 fleet.

We wish to thank our customers for their patience and understanding during this period, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.

9V-SKC operated Sat's SQ222/231 service.

Good to see more are coming back

Sorry to bring this thread back up BUT today's (9/2) SQ231 is operated by a 744