Page 49 - AA 2018_11

QANTAS A380 AT 10

Captains Peter Probert and
Steve Ager at the controls of
VH-OQA not long before descent
into Sydney at the end of its
September 2008 delivery flight.
gerard frawley

Then CEO Geoff Dixon and
CEO-designate Alan Joyce
with the first Qantas A380
in September 2008. gerard
frawley

a moment of truth. Joyce immediately
A pre-delivery publicity shot suspended all A380 operations,
of the first Qantas A380. groundings that lasted for almost four
airbus weeks before the airline was satisfied
it was safe to fly them again and Joyce,
who was on the first resumed service
from Sydney to Singapore, could
comment that “we are 100 per cent
comfortable with the operation of the
aircraft”.
The QF32 incident threw the A380
and Rolls-Royce under heavy scrutiny.
The engine maker in particular
attracted flack as its public relations
department went into hibernation,
leaving an angry Airbus and Qantas to
take the heat. For a time, the big plane
became a big liability. In December,
two months after the incident, Qantas
filed a claim against Rolls-Royce
in the Federal Court of Australia
over the financial and commercial
impact of the mid-air failure. Takeoff
NOVEMBER 2018 49