Another Qantas plane grounded in Australia following engine failure

LONDON - Within hours of Qantas resuming its services, QF1, which was bound for London from Sydney, was cancelled after a loud noise emerged from the engine while the aircraft was taxiing towards the runway.

The flight, which was scheduled to take off at 6.05 p.m. on Saturday, was grounded and Qantas was forced to postpone the flight until around 9.00 a.m. on Sunday.

The passengers were immediately pulled off the plane because of the engine fault, news.com.au quoted a Qantas spokesman as saying.

“The aircraft was taxiing to the runway and the pilot had an indication of an issue with one of the engines, and following procedures it returned to the bay,” he added.

A passenger said that after sitting in the plane for 45 minutes, they were taken off the plane.

“We were on the tarmac and then the captain said there was a mechanical problem; he said there was an electrical fault and that every time they tried to start the engine up it cut out.We sat for 45 minutes and then they took us off the plane,” he added.

Yesterday, the first Qantas A380 passenger flight took off from Sydney Airport.

Qantas’s six A380s have been grounded for over three weeks following the incident.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, who was on board yesterday’s flight to London via Singapore, said all safety checks have been completed.

“It’s great that we can reintroduce the aircraft. We are 100 per cent comfortable with the operation of the aircraft,” Joyce said before boarding the plane.

Earlier this month, the engine of the A380 had dramatically exploded mid-air over the Indonesian island of Batam, near Singapore, and had to return to Singapore’s Changi Airport.

Qantas Airways had then grounded its entire Airbus A380 fleet. (ANI)