Qantas: A380s grounded for 72 more hours

By the CNN Wire Staff

November 8, 2010 -- Updated 1226 GMT (2026 HKT)

(CNN) -- Qantas Airways' fleet of Airbus A380 aircraft will remain grounded for at least 72 more hours, the Australian airline's CEO said Monday afternoon.

The planes will not return to service until the airline is "100 percent sure" about their safety, CEO Alan Joyce said at a news conference.

Oil leaks have been discovered in engines on three planes, and investigations continue, Joyce added. The leaks were beyond normal tolerances, he said.

The engines have been removed from the planes and are being examined by Rolls-Royce, which manufactured them, Joyce added.Last Thursday, a Qantas flight was forced to return to Singapore's Changi Airport shortly after takeoff, because the engine's covering, or cowling, tore off above the western Indonesian island of Batam. The Australia-bound flight was carrying 440 passengers and 26 crew members.

The grounding of Qantas's A380 fleet had temporarily stranded 500 passengers in Los Angeles, California, Qantas said Monday. But the airline was scrambling to take care of customers -- putting them up in hotels, offering them expense money and long-distance phone calls, and chartering relief flights to Australia. At the news conference, Joyce also said that passengers would receive additional compensation, though that remained to be worked out.

The last backlog of passengers was expected to clear Los Angeles on Monday, Qantas said.

The grounding of Qantas's A380 fleet had temporarily stranded 500 passengers in Los Angeles, California, Qantas said Monday. But the airline was scrambling to take care of customers -- putting them up in hotels, offering them expense money and long-distance phone calls, and chartering relief flights to Australia.

At the news conference, Joyce also said that passengers would receive additional compensation, though that remained to be worked out. The last backlog of passengers was expected to clear Los Angeles on Monday, Qantas said.

Meanwhile, after a yearlong hiatus, Emirates airline resumes flying its A380 planes to New York with an 8:30 a.m. flight Monday. A few days earlier, the airline launched flights to Houston, Texas, and Los Angeles, California.