European aviation safety authorities will issue a notice later Wednesday requiring all airlines operating the Airbus A380 superjumbo to get their aircraft checked for possible cracks in brackets inside the planes' wings, the European Aviation Safety Agency said Wednesday.
It is the second EASA directive on the A380 issued this year after the agency last month directed operators flying aircraft that have more than 1,300 takeoffs and landings in the logbooks to undergo inspections. That directive applied to 20 A380 aircraft currently in service.
The Cologne, Germany-based EASA plans to extend the requirement to all of the 68 A380s currently in service, EASA spokesman Dominique Fouda said.
Inspections have found cracks in wing brackets in most of the 20 planes examined in recent weeks. Interim repairs have been carried out and several aircraft are back into service. Mr. Fouda said the revised directive will require A380 operators to check for cracks using nondestructive techniques involving special equipment that detects cracks using high-frequency electrical currents. Up to now, the inspections have been visual.
Airbus is a division of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co NV. Officials of Airbus said they will comment on the EASA directive after it is published. The aircraft maker has previously said that once repairs of the cracks are completed, the plane's operational life will be unaffected.
Earlier Wednesday, Qantas Airways Ltd. said it has taken one of its Airbus A380 superjumbos out of service after cracks were discovered in its wings. Australia's flag carrier said Airbus has confirmed to the airline that the cracks don't pose a threat to safety. Airbus requested precautionary inspections of the Qantas jet's wings after it ran into severe turbulence above India in early January.
"During these inspections minor cracking has been found on some wing rib feet," a Qantas spokeswoman said. This cracking is not related to the turbulence, or specific to Qantas, but is traced back to a manufacturing issue," she said. Qantas said it expects to have the aircraft back in service within a week.
EASA's Mr. Fouda said operators that discover cracks must get them repaired using an interim fix. Airbus is working on a permanent solution for the affected planes that will be introduced after it has been approved by EASA, probably during the summer, he said.
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