19th Feb 2008
THE Airbus A380 super jumbo has had its first grounding following technical problems in Singapore, Singapore Airlines says.
A problem with the fuel pump forced the plane to stay in Singapore last night as a replacement pump did not correct the fault, the airline said today.
"This is the first aircraft-related issue which has caused a (A380) flight to not operate,'' Singapore Airlines' head of corporate affairs Stephen Forshaw said.
"The fuel pump problem was traced to a relay circuit, upon which the pump relies, which was also replaced overnight.''
The plane was now serviceable, he said.
Singapore Airlines replaced the Singapore to Sydney service with a smaller capacity Boeing 747-400 as the airline's second A380 was in the maintenance shed, Mr Forshaw said.
"The second A380 was in for routine pre-entry into service maintenance, which was already planned,'' he said.
Last month was the first time one of the airline's A380s did not operate a flight, but the fault did not lie with the aircraft, he said.
"An earlier fault with a tow truck pushing the aircraft, which damaged one of the aircraft's wheels, also caused the flight not to operate,'' Mr Forshaw said
"But that was an issue with the tow truck, not the aircraft.''http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23242090-5005961,00.html
