Qantas plays down sabotage speculation

Qantas says it does not believe it is a victim of sabotage after two of its jumbo
jets carrying a total of more than 800 passengers suffered engine failures flying
out of Singapore.
Chief executive Alan Joyce said the airline, which on Saturday was celebrating its
90th birthday, did not yet know what had caused the latest incident involving a
Boeing 747-400 jet carrying about 400 passengers.
In the second mishap in two days, flight QF6 was six minutes out of Singapore on its
way to Sydney on Friday when it was forced to turn back because of a "contained
engine failure", before landing safely at Changi Airport.
"The pilot experienced a problem with the No 1 engine," Mr Joyce told journalists at
the Qantas Jet Base in Mascot, near Sydney airport, on Saturday.
"There were smoke and sparks coming from the engine."
Passengers on board say they heard a loud bang, telling ABC Radio some of their
fellow travellers were screaming and panicked as crew told them to adopt the brace
position before landing.
Asked if he thought the 747 had been sabotaged, Mr Joyce said: "We do not believe
this is sabotage. It looks like a mechanical failure of the engine".
Qantas also says is not concerned about the safety of its fleet of Boeing 747-400
jumbos, after it was forced to ground its six Airbus A380s on Thursday.
The groundings came after QF32, also on its way to Sydney from Singapore, suffered
an "uncontained engine failure" in one of its four Rolls Royce engines, causing
debris to fly up into the left wing and onto the Indonesian island of Batam.
Mr Joyce said Qantas was still carrying out engine checks on the A380s.
"We are hopeful that within days we will have our A380 fleet flying again," he said.
"We are not concerned about our 747 fleet.
"Those engines have a long life ... We've seen inflight shutdowns take place before
... It's a liability, not a safety issue."
Mr Joyce said QF6's passengers had been put up in hotels overnight and would be
picked up soon.
"We are flying an aircraft to Singapore today to fly the passengers back," he said.
The passengers are due to arrive at Sydney Airport on Sunday evening.
Engine-maker Rolls Royce and aircraft-maker Airbus are working with Qantas on the
A380 issue.
The majority of the 433 passengers on flight QF32 arrived back in Sydney late on
Friday, after Qantas sent a replacement plane to pick them up.
They praised the airline and flight crew, and were particularly impressed with
Captain Richard Champion de Crespigny for his cool handling of the crisis.
Passenger Peter Smith thought the worst had happened when he heard the explosion,
but said he would fly with Qantas again.
"(I thought) it was just a small bomb or something," he told reporters at Sydney
International Airport on Friday.
Australian air safety officials are investigating both incidents.
Asked if Qantas had suffered brand damage because of the incidents, Mr Joyce said
safety was the carrier's first priority.
He also reiterated that Qantas carried out 92 per cent of its aircraft maintenance
in Australia, with the remainder outsourced overseas to "the best" in the world.
About 15,000 Qantas staff gathered at the airline's Mascot base on Saturday for a
special open day.
Qantas ambassador-at-large and actor John Travolta flew his personal Boeing 707
aircraft to Sydney for the milestone event.



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