Qantas incident: Fresh details emerge

Rolls-Royce said in a statement that it, "has made progress in understanding the cause of the engine failure" that caused a Qantas A380 to make an emergency landing in Singapore last week.

Quoted by Air Transport World, the engine maker said that the incident "is specific to the Trent 900 engine," and unconnected to the test-stand failure of a Trent 1000 that occurred in August.

Rolls noted that the Trent 900 incident "is the first of its kind to occur on a large civil Rolls-Royce engine since 1994.

Since then Rolls-Royce has accumulated 142 million hours of flight on Trent and RB211 engines."

Rolls said the use by Qantas of the highest thrust version of the Trent 900 on its A380s for its flights across the Pacific is thought to have been a possible factor in the incident.

Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines operate the 70,000 lb. thrust engine, while Qantas uses the 72,000 lb. thrust model, with industry observers suggesting a link between the higher thrust and oil leaks identified by Qantas investigators.

Qantas operates its A380s on the longest routes from Los Angeles to Melbourne and Sydney nonstop which requires additional take-off thrust to carry the extra fuel.

Lufthansa and SIA have found no issues with their Trent 900s.

Qantas has indicted that its A380 fleet will be grounded for at least 72 hours while safety checks are completed.