Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has launched a special review into Qantas Airways’ safety standards following high-profile operational incidents over the past 10 days.
The regulator stresses, however, that it believes the airline’s standards remain good.
CASA announced the review yesterday, saying it had no evidence to suggest safety standards had fallen but that it felt one was necessary following the recent incidents.
The most serious incident, on 25 July, involved a Boeing 747-400 that was forced to make an emergency landing at Manila after a fuselage rupture that followed a suspected emergency oxygen cylinder explosion. None on board was injured.
At least two other minor operational incidents involving Qantas aircraft have received media attention since then, the most recent of which occurred at the weekend. It involved a Boeing 767-300 headed for Manila that returned to Sydney as a result of a suspected hydraulic system problem.
Oneworld alliance member Qantas says in a statement that it will work with CASA on its review of some of the carrier’s operations.
“Our operations are first class and are continually subject to the scrutiny of Australian and overseas regulators as well as our own internal audits,” says executive general manager of Qantas Engineering, David Cox.
“We have no issue with this latest review and CASA says it has no evidence to suggest that safety standards at Qantas have fallen. We agree and are totally confident these checks will confirm the integrity of our engineering and maintenance operations and our commitment to safety.”
He adds: “CASA regularly audits a range of Qantas’ operations. Qantas Engineering, for example, successfully completed 13 audits in the last year alone, and a recent comprehensive audit of Qantas’ air operator’s certificate resulted in the airline’s operating approval again being confirmed.”
Qantas also says the latest incident on 2 August in which the 767 returned to Sydney “was a routine and appropriate response to an issue with the aircraft’s hydraulic system”.
It adds: “In this case, the flight crew responded appropriately, emergency services were on standby at Sydney Airport as a precaution, there was absolutely no safety issue at any time and, after checks, the aircraft was back in service 8hr later.”
Source: flightglobal,com's sister premium news site Air Transport Intelligence news
Source: Flight International
