Qantas may take Rolls-Royce to court

Qantas Airways Ltd has flagged possible legal action against the makers of the jet
engine that exploded mid-air on its A380 super-jumbo.
The airline said on Thursday it had filed a statement of claim and had been granted
an injunction by the Federal Court of Australia, which would ensure that it could
pursue legal action against Rolls-Royce in Australia, particularly under the Trade
Practices Act, if a commercial settlement was not possible.
The two parties have begun talks on the financial and operational effects of the
grounding of the Qantas A380 fleet, and ongoing checks of their Rolls-Royce engines,
since the engine exploded on November 4 shortly after takeoff on a flight from
Singapore to Sydney.
"Today's action allows Qantas to keep all options available to the company to
recover losses as a result of the grounding of the A380 fleet and the operational
constraints currently imposed on A380 services," Qantas said in a statement.
The move came as Qantas was instructed by the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau
(ATSB) to conduct more inspections of the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines on the
airline's A380s.
The directive was issued also to all airlines using the Trent 900 engines after
safety authorities uncovered a possible manufacturing defect in the engines.
Qantas is conducting the additional checks from its jet base in Sydney on the two
A380s currently in service.
There was no immediate risk to flight safety and no effect on international services
was anticipated, although contingencies were in place, the airline said.
The ATSB discovered the Trent 900 engine defect during its examinations of the
Qantas engine that failed over Indonesia.
The problem relates to fatigue cracking that was found within a pipe that feeds oil
into "the high pressure/intermediate pressure (HP/IP) bearing structure".
The cause of the defect is thought to stem from the manufacturing process of the
engines.
The ATSB said the problem "could lead to fatigue cracking, oil leakage and potential
engine failure from an oil fire within the HP/IP bearing buffer space".
Qantas engineers will use specialist equipment known as a borescope to inspect the
Trent 900 engines to view the condition of the wall of the engine oil tube.
The engineers were directed to look for any sign of the wall being reduced in
thickness, which could cause the tube to crack and leak.
Results from the checks are expected to be known on Friday, the same day the ATSB
will release its preliminary report into the Qantas A380 engine explosion.
Qantas shares gained three cents on Thursday to $2.64.