Singapore A380 turns back after engine shuts down

SINGAPORE—Singapore Airlines said Wednesday an Airbus A380 bound for Hong Kong was forced to return to the city-state this week after one of its engines shut down.

Flight SQ856, carrying 368 passengers, turned back 20 minutes into the flight on Monday “after engine number 3 shut down during the aircraft climb,” the airline said in a statement.

“Following inspections of the affected aircraft in conjunction with Rolls Royce, an engine change was put in place and the aircraft went back into operation on 27 July,” it said.

“Investigations are currently being carried out on the affected engine in conjunction with Airbus and Rolls Royce.”

SIA said the pilots turned back the flight as a “precautionary measure” and no one was hurt.

Problems with Rolls Royce engines in A380 aircraft – the world’s biggest passenger plane – came to light after a Qantas superjumbo made an emergency landing in Singapore in November last year because of a mid-air engine explosion.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said in a report that the blast on the Qantas aircraft could have been caused by a possible manufacturing issue related to oil pipes in the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine.

The Australian safety watchdog said the problem could lead to fatigue cracking, oil leakage and potential engine failure from an oil fire. Qantas initially grounded its whole A380 fleet over the incident.