Qantas has suffered a handful of incidents in the past week mostly relating to technical issues but it has assured Australians there are “absolutely no issues” with the airline.
The CEO of Qantas domestic and international, Andrew David, has addressed why five flights have been turned back mid-air within a week.
“Let me start by assuring everybody that there are absolutely no issues at Qantas,” he told 2GB host Ben Fordham on Monday.
“If you look around the world, the global aviation industry would average about 10,000 diversions or air turnbacks per year. We average about 60 per year.
“Yes we have had four or five in the last week or so but our pilots are trained to err on the side of caution for any issue.”
It comes as a flight from Fiji to Sydney was forced to turn back after reports of fumes in the cabin.
After taking off more than an hour late, the flight was diverted around 45 minutes into its journey.
The pilot of flight QF102 bound for Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport had received a report of smoke coming from the oven in a cabin and headed back to Fiji where it landed safely around 90 minutes after departure.
The incident follows a flurry of diversion affecting Qantas aircraft that began with a mayday alert issued last Wednesday.
On January 18, a Qantas 737 aircraft travelling from Auckland to Sydney issued a mayday call that was later downgraded to a PAN (possible assistance needed) following an engine failure as it was across the Tasman Sea.
The plane, which had 145 passengers on-board, was able to land safely in Sydney.
Passengers reported hearing a “loud bang” and feeling of a “dip” as the aircraft dropped from 36,000 feet to 20,000 feet in about 40 minutes.
“There were no announcements mid-flight. The first we were alerted to it was about 10 minutes out when they made the announcements about preparing the cabin for landing,” passenger Nigel Morris said.
Transport safety investigators confirmed they would analyse QF144’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data after the engine failure.
Qantas said all 145 passengers disembarked normally and shutdowns were rare, with pilots trained to manage them safely.
Five flights turn back in a week
The following day on January 19, a Boeing 737 bound for Nadi returned to Sydney after an on-board “fault indicator” about a possible mechanical issue. Flight QF10 was on its way to Fiji when it turned around and landed back in Sydney before 11am.
A Qantas spokesperson said the flight returned to Sydney Airport as a precaution after “pilots received a fault indicator about a potential mechanical issue”.
Engineers are currently examining the aircraft.
Meanwhile, three Qantas flights were also diverted on Friday – a QantasLink service from Melbourne to Canberra; a Boeing 737-800 from Melbourne to Sydney; and a flight from Adelaide to Melbourne – due to ‘engine and mechanical’ issues.
‘Things go wrong in aviation all the time’
Author and former Qantas captain Richard De Crespigny told the Today show on Monday, issues in aviation are common.
“Well, there are five different events. But to be fair and to Qantas, this is sort of a perfect storm of things going on,” he said, adding that “a lot of them are not that important”.
“Things go wrong in aviation all the time. That’s why we have two pilots in the cockpit.
“Things sometimes go wrong and the pilots fix it. This is what we are there for and this is aviation.”
Qantas averages around 60 air turn backs per year out of more than 10,000 across the total industry. Globally, there are an estimated 400 to 500 engine shutdowns across all narrow body jet aircraft per year.
“When they happen at Qantas, we’re proud of how well our people deal with them, and that comes back to our safety record and our commitment to training,” Mr David said in a statement.
“We understand that when you hear reports of planes turning around, it’s concerning.
“But people can be assured that aviation is built on safeguards, and one of those safeguards is that if something isn’t right, we take a conservative approach to the problem rather than pressing on.”
Mr David said the airline was investigating each and every incident to find out what the issues were and to address them.
He said the aircraft involved in the recent incidents were “well within their 20 years that we would normally start retiring aircraft”.
“We do have a new aircraft coming every month this year and that will continue that way for a number of years so a lot of new aircraft coming into the fleet,” Mr David said.
He said the plane that was involved in the mayday call last Wednesday was about 10 years old. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) said on Friday it was confident Qantas was operating safely and has confidence in its safety management systems.
CASA actively reviews and monitors the aviation industry, using regular surveillance, frequent engagement with airlines to review incidents and trends and works closely with the ATSB to scrutinise safety reports, findings and data.