Qantas safety reputation at stake

Qantas Airways has had an enviable safety record for the last twenty years, but that reputation has come open for question with an incident this last week that forced one of its jet to make an emergency landing at the Manila International Airport in the Philippines.

Geoff Dixon, chief executive of Qantas has reported responded to the incident by commenting largely on the airline’s safety history, but passengers who were on board flight QF30 spoke of their terror as they heard a loud explosion and the plane started to lose altitude, before landing safely in Manila.

The Qantas flight was on route to Melbourne from Hong Kong, and after a rapid descent following a drop in pressure in the passenger cabin, it landed in the Philippines, where all passengers emerged unharmed.

A gaping hole, measuring two by four metres, had opened along the Boeing 747-400’s fuselage, just in front of the wing.

Australia’s Transport Safety Bureau is conducting an investigation as to how the damage to the fuselage occurred.

Not long after the plane landed in Manila, Qantas chief executive Dixon released the extensive maintenance history of the aircraft, which dated back to 2004.

According to representatives of the pilots association, a number of questions about the Qantas maintenance programme need to be addressed.

Qantas stands accused by the association of risking lives by putting profits first, and outsourcing maintenance activities overseas, where standards are lower than in Australia, representatives for the pilots said.

www.qantas.com.au