The wrecked engine after the plane landed in Singapore. Photo: AFPNoone was injured during the emergency landing after the plane experienced "significant" engine failure six minutes after take off.
Following Qantas's decision, two A380 flights from Los Angeles would be grounded tonight, as would one in Sydney.
Speaking in Sydney late this afternoon about today's incident, Qanta's chief executive officer, Alan Joyce, said the aircraft and its engine were new.
''We have decided that we will suspend all A380 takeoffs until we are fully comfortable that sufficient information has been obtained about QF32,'' he said.
''We will suspend those A380 services until we are completely confident that Qantas safety requirements have been met.''
He said the suspensions were a precaution until Qantas understood the reasons for the incident.
He stressed today's incident was the first ''issue'' that had occurred ''with this engine failure''.
''We take our safety standards very seriously,'' he said.
Mr Joyce said that engine failures occurred on aircraft around the world every day, but Qantas needed to ensure the safe operation of its planes.
He could not say how long it would take for an investigation, involving Rolls Royce and Airbus, to be carried out.
‘‘It will take as long as we need to take until we’re sure," he said.
He conceded that some passengers would experience flight delays after the latest incident, including flights to Perth and Los Angeles. Alternative flights would be organised, Qantas said.
Passengers from flight QF32 would be accommodated in a Singapore hotel.
‘‘Qantas will be operating a replacement aircraft that will fly to Singapore tonight and will depart tomorrow with all the passengers on board,’’ Mr Joyce said.
- with Ellie Harvey
Facts about the Airbus A380:
- The double-decker A380 measures 73 metres in length.
- Its wingspan is 79.75 metres, its wing area is 845 square metres.
- It has 50 per cent more floor space than the next biggest aircraft, the Boeing 747 jumbo.
- It is 24.45 metres high, about the same height as a seven-storey building.
- It can carry 853 passengers in an all-economy configuration.
- The A380 has 530 kilometres of wiring, roughly equivalent to the distance between Frankfurt and Paris.
- The project was delayed 18 months at an additional cost of about $US6 billion, Airbus estimates.
- The first aircraft, operated by Singapore Airlines, entered service on 25 October 2007 with an inaugural flight between Singapore and Sydney (flight number SQ380).
- The A380 can be fitted with two types of engines: Rolls-Royce Trent 900 and Engine Alliance GP7000 turbofans.
- Airbus said in June 2010 it had 234 confirmed orders for the A380 from 17 customers. Qantas is the second biggest customer with 20 aircraft on order. Emirates is by far the biggest, with 90 aircraft on order.
- There are 37 of the aircraft currently in operation, airlines who have taken delivery are Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Emirates, Lufthansa and Air France.
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