Qantas Flight Returns to Thailand After Engine Issue
April 6 (Bloomberg) — Qantas Airways Ltd., Australia’s largest carrier, reported its fifth aircraft malfunction since March 30 as an engine power surge forced a London-bound flight to turn back to Bangkok.
There was no “safety issue” at any stage as the Boeing Co. 747 can fly normally with three engines, Sydney-based Qantas said in an e-mailed statement today. Engineers in Bangkok are examining the plane, which had its most recent maintenance check last month, according to the statement.
Qantas, which hasn’t had a passenger fatality since commencing jet flights more than 50 years ago, has had problems with five of its aircraft in the past eight days. A cracked cockpit window kept one jet grounded in Melbourne yesterday. Three Qantas planes ran into trouble last week, with one flight returning to Singapore after a mechanical fault, an Airbus SAS A380 bursting two tires while landing in Sydney, and engine problems keeping Los Angeles-bound passengers stranded in Brisbane, Australia for a day.
