[ASDnews : 11 January 2010]
SEOUL, Jan 11, 2010 (AFP) - A new Airbus A380 super
jumbo has been grounded at a South Korean airport due to a mechanical
fault, the latest in a series of glitches for the world's largest
airliner, officials said Monday.
The Emirates plane was scheduled to take off late Sunday for Dubai but
the flight was cancelled due to a technical defect, said airport
officials in Incheon, west of Seoul.
It was the first such case since the Dubai-based carrier launched the
A380 service to South Korea last December. The carrier has seven A380s.
"A technical problem has been detected in the plane's fuel system," an
official at the carrier's local public relations agency told AFP.
The delay had forced some 420 passengers to stay at a hotel near the
airport, he said, adding that the passengers would leave on another
plane sent by the carrier overnight, after a 19-hour delay.
"Initial investigations on site could not resolve the issue and a team
of engineers and spare parts were sent...later," Lee Sang-Jin, manager
of Emirates Korea, said in a statement.
"All passengers were provided hotel accommodation and are scheduled to
depart Seoul later this evening," he said.
Air France's new A380 was grounded more than once last month due to
technical problems. Another owned by Singapore Airlines had to return to
Paris last month for attention due to an electrical fault.
A week ago a Qantas-operated A380 bound for Los Angeles was grounded at
Melbourne airport due to a problem with its fuel gauge.
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