Plane Expected To Be Back In Service Tuesday

It wasn't a major problem... but it came at a bad time. Singapore Airlines said Tuesday the carrier was forced to cancel its Monday night A380 flight from Singapore to Sydney, Australia, due to a defect with one of the superjumbo's fuel pumps.

The Associated Press reports the problem was detected on startup Monday, after the aircraft was pushed back from the terminal. The carrier swapped one of its Boeing 747-400s in to cover the route, although about 70 of the 418 passengers had to wait for other flights due to that aircraft's smaller capacity.

"Airbus and our own engineers have dedicated teams to try to address these issues quickly, but last night's fuel pump defect took much longer to fix," the airline said in an e-mailed statement to the AP.

A backup fuel pump also reportedly failed to solve the problem. The airline's second A380 was in maintenance, so it couldn't cover the flight, either.

Fuel pump issues aren't uncommon, of course; if this story were about any other aircraft type, it wouldn't be news. But the problem is notable for two reasons: because it marks the first grounding of an A380 due to a mechanical problem... and it comes during this week's inaugural Singapore Air Show, during which Airbus is touting the performance to date of launch customer Singapore Airlines' first A380.

Singapore Airlines moved quickly to downplay the issue. "The delay was most unfortunate, because to date, the aircraft has been operating with very high reliability: the highest of any aircraft type to enter service," the carrier said. "It is, of course, to be expected that technical issues will occur from time to time."

Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said he was unaware of issues with other A380s now in production, and referred further questions back to the airline.

"The A380 shows an excellent operational performance. It operates twice daily since the end of October and shows dispatch reliability of more than 99.5 percent," he said. "Like with a normal car, things can happen, things need to be repaired."

Singapore Airlines says the problem has been rectified, and its A380 will be back in operation Tuesday night.

FMI: www.airbus.com, www.singaporeairlines.com