Industry: Rolls Royce finds faulty engine part

But the Derby-based company, which is rolling out a programme of inspections across all A380s, admitted the cost of the response would lead to "slightly lower" profit growth, compared with previous forecasts of four to five per cent.

Rolls Royce said the failure was confined to a specific component in the turbine of the Trent 900 engine, which sparked an oil fire and led to the release of another part – a turbine disc.

Passengers on board Qantas flight QF32 described seeing the engine burst into flames minutes into a journey from Singapore to Sydney last week, scattering debris over Indonesia's Batam island.

The European Aviation Safety Authority yesterday issued an emergency directive demanding regular checks on all Trent 900 engines made by Rolls Royce.

This forced Qantas, which discovered small oil leaks in engines on three separate aircraft, to prolong the grounding of its A380 fleet.

Singapore Airlines grounded three of its 11 A380s after inspections revealed oil stains and German airline Lufthansa said it would also perform inspections of engines on its superjumbos.

A regime of engine checks is being conducted and the component will be replaced if required.