Actually people returning from the UK are covered by the EU rules - not just people whose tickets were issued in the EU.

In this specific case all passengers who were on the flight from London are covered, but those who joined at Singapore aren't.

I guess the better question is why RR service directives issued months ago calling for engine inspections were not implemented yet -- until there was a catastrophic failure. Perhaps cost is causing safety to be compromised, with inspections postponed until they are more convenient and cost-effective ... until there is an incident. RR and the airlines have a lot to answer for, and the regulatory bodies have to re-evaluate how much leeway to allow airlines in their day to day operations.

As you point out, this is not the first serious problem, and it won't be the last. The process for ensuring airplane safety has been compromised, with incidents like QF74 and even the QF oxygen cylinder incident (which has not been fully understood/explained to date). QF is far better than average; this is a budding airline industry problem. The predictive model being used for maintenance is becoming incongruent with actual results; something has to change.

Has the 9th A380 been engined yet? My info is no. Perhaps you have better data?

You use of the word tickets in this manner is incorrect - they are covered for all journeys departing from an EU port. It does not matter if the ticket was issued in London, Paris, Sydney, Chicago or Timbuktu!

Qantas and RR engines
 

Qantas and RR have been close for a long time. It is interesting that in view of this long term relationship, the CEO indicated very early that QF32 was a RR problem/issue.


"The Qantas aircraft is powered by the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine, which is the market leader on the airframe, having been selected by ten of the 13 Airbus A380 operators and securing nearly a 60 per cent share of the firm and option orders.

For Rolls-Royce, the arrival of the Trent 900-powered A380 also marks the latest stage of a long and close relationship with the airline. Tony Davis, Regional Director for Rolls-Royce in Australia said: ‘Qantas is an iconic carrier. Almost 30 years ago the first Rolls-Royce powered Boeing 747 arrived and they were to become the backbone of the Qantas long-haul fleet. The A380 is the successor to the 747 in the Qantas stable and if we are to have the same close relationship going forward then this new long-haul aircraft and its Trent 900 engine are central to the partnership.’

Qantas has the largest single airline order with Boeing for 787s and the second largest A380 order in place with Airbus.

The airline currently operates a fleet of 44 Rolls-Royce powered aircraft, the latest of which to arrive is the new Trent 900-powered A380. The airline has 20 Trent-powered A380s on order and has signed a TotalCare agreement with Rolls-Royce for the management of the Trent 900s in the fleet".

http://www.rolls-royce.com/civil/cus...heart_soul.jsp

As I said earlier, it sounds like panic by the CEO. And he better be proven right in his statement as otherwise he's going to spend a lot of time in UK courts having his backside sued from here to eternity

Oh, come on. These things happen now and then:

http://www.ntsb.gov/pressrel/2010/100527b.html

They are serious incidents, but let's not blow it out of proportion just because *this* particular incident was picked up by the media.

Airbus here in Sydney are gearing up to receive 3 in very quick succession. I don't think this event will slow down delivery. Believe me its very impressive what these guys here do.

As you note the AD is probably the big question - if this event relates to the AD then there will be some serious questions asked, but as yet we don't know. We also don't know what inspections had been done prior. Like all other events, lessons will be learnt which will make flying even more safe.

I would say that's pretty unlikely given how much money QF spends with RR. They'll probably just as him to retract it in some form or another.

Which is why I said his backside. CEOs come and go - jittery ones go quicker.

I don't think the CEO at RR are sleeping well if at all at the moment..... they have just settled for a huge sum with Celebrity Cruises for their Marine engines in the M Class ships and now this disaster......

Ah, OK, sorry my inattention!
I think there are quite a few people at QF who wouldn't mind seeing the back(side) of AJ.

What is it about the airline industry and employing gob-shites like him - I wonder if he went to the same school as Michael O'Leary & Willie Walsh?

If you are flying sometime next week, how do we find out whether the A380 is now a B747 or something else. Expert flyer is not updated with any changes.

The BBC and SMH are saying that QF6 (744) returned to Singapore due to an engine problem.

Something isn't adding up here according to a newsstream ANOTHER QF has had to return to Singapore due to engine trouble - this time it is a 747.

I don't normally tend to conspiracy theories but I am starting to wonder now.....