Due to inspections of its Airbus A380 aircraft, as ordered by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Singapore Airlines (SIA) will be using the Boeing B777-300ER temporarily on some affected flights.
Flight SQ317 departing London for Singapore tomorrow evening will be one of them. There is no change to scheduled departure and arrival times.
For this flight, SIA will waive refund, rebooking or rerouting fees for customers holding confirmed tickets issued on or before January 25, 2012.
The carrier had swapped in the B777 for flights to Zurich as well on January 24, 25 and 26 due to the inspections. According to an SIA spokesperson, so far four superjumbo aircraft have been checked, of which “one has already undergone repairs and is back in service.”
The Airworthiness Directive issued by the EASA has obliged the carrier to check six of the superjumbos by January 28, 2012.
Passengers will be notified of any further changes to aircraft deployment through the carrier’s website.
The directive, issued on January 20, has ordered the inspection of almost a third of all the A380s in operation today due to cracks found on wings of some of the superjumbos that could affect “the structural integrity of the aeroplane” (see story here).
For more information, visit www.singaporeair.com
Alisha Haridasani
