British enginemaker Rolls-Royce has asked Airbus to return Trent 900 engines from A380 super-jumbo production lines so they can be used to replace faulty ones on aircraft already in service.
The Airbus A380 - the world's largest passenger aircraft with an average list price of about $350-million - has been hit by safety concerns after a Rolls-Royce engine partly disintegrated mid-flight, forcing a fully laden Qantas plane to make an emergency landing in Singapore on November 4.
Rolls-Royce's move could be another blow to a much-delayed A380 programme as Airbus was scheduled to deliver over a dozen Rolls-Royce-powered A380s - primarily to Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Lufthansa - by the end of next year.
But both Singapore Airlines and Qantas, with a combined 22 A380s still to be delivered, said yesterday they had not been informed of any delivery delays.