Singapore Airlines grounds superjumbos in alert over oil leaks

The move came less than a week after an engine on a Qantas A380 exploded shortly after take-off.

Singapore Airlines said in a statement that tests had revealed oil stains in three engines on three of its A380s.

"We apologise to our customers for flight disruptions that may result and we seek their understanding," airline spokesman Nicholas Ionides added.

Earlier this week Australian carrier Qantas grounded all six of its A380s following the explosion of a Rolls-Royce engine on a Qantas superjumbo flight which had just taken off from Singapore last week.

Qantas, whose pilots were praised for getting the stricken superjumbo safely back to Singapore, said tests had uncovered oil leaks in three engines on its A380s.

One of the now-grounded Singapore Airlines' superjumbos had been due to fly passengers from Heathrow to Singapore on Tuesday, but it flew with no passengers to Singapore and the airline was making alternative arrangements yesterday to get the passengers away on another flight.

One of the other now-grounded A380s flew empty from Melbourne to Singapore, while the third flew, with passengers, from Singapore to Sydney. All three planes will have engine-replacement work done in Singapore.

On Monday Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said tests had uncovered oil leaks in the turbine area of three engines on three different A380s.

All six of the Australian airline's A380 planes remained grounded yesterday.

London-based Rolls-Royce, which manufactures engines for A380s by Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Germany's Lufthansa, has recommended a series of checks on the Trent 900 engines.

Lufthansa and Singapore briefly grounded their planes last week but quickly resumed services after completing checks. Singapore said yesterday Rolls-Royce had recommended further detailed inspections of three engines after additional analysis uncovered the oil stains.

Lufthansa, which has three A380s, said it had replaced a Rolls-Royce engine on one of its superjumbos and the aircraft was back in service. The German carrier said the problem was minor and unconnected to the oil leaks.

Bryony Duncan-Smith, a spokeswoman for Singapore Airlines, said she did not know whether the oil staining found in the Singapore engines was similar to the oil leaks found on the Qantas planes.