Qantas: Half of World's A380s Need Engines Replaced

The chief of Qantas Airways has chilled the hearts of nervous fliers—and Rolls-Royce shareholders—by saying up to half of the world's fleet of Airbus A380 jumbos using Rolls-Royce engines need to have their engines replaced. The CEO says the engines need to be replaced because of a faulty component that caused an engine in a Qantas jet to catch fire and disintegrate earlier this month, Bloomberg reports.

Qantas has grounded its A380s but Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa have kept theirs in the air after switching some engines and stepping up inspections. Airbus is scheduled to hand over 20 new A380s to airlines next year but it may end up needing to use some engines from those aircraft to carry out replacements. The aircraft maker says it plans to press Rolls-Royce for full compensation for any disruption to its deliveries.
(More Airbus stories.)