Second emergency landing ruins Australian airline Qantas' 90th anniversary

A Boeing 747 plane, which is heading from Singapore to Sydney, lands safely in Changi airport in Singapore, Nov. 6, 2010. Photo: Xinhua/Reuters

Saturday is Qantas airline's 90th anniversary, but celebrations have been ruined by the second mid- air emergency in Singapore.

On Friday night, second Qantas plane Boeing 747 flying out of Changi Airport of Singapore has been forced to turn back and make an emergency landing. The plane was carrying 412 passengers, three flight crew and 16 cabin crew.

According to ABC News, passengers aboard QF6 reported seeing flames and sparks flying out of the engine, before the plane turned around.

It was the second time in just two days that a Qantas plane coming out of Singapore has been involved in a mid-air emergency. At present time, another 400 passengers are stranded in Singapore.

On Thursday, a Sydney-bound Qantas Airbus A380, carrying 433 passengers and 26 crew, made an emergency landing in Singapore after turning back following a mid-air explosion in one of its four engines.

The engineering union has accused Qantas of the off-shoring of maintenance work, and said there has been a drop in Qantas' safety standards.

While Qantas is looking to reassure its customers after the two emergency landing incident, the airline's chief executive Alan Joyce said the emergency landings are due to design of Rolls-Royce engines, not maintenance issues.

Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth said maintenance on the 747 involved in Friday night's incident was carried out in Australia, and it is a coincidence the engine faults occurred on the same route within days.

"I can report that this recent aircraft, the 747, the incident last night it was actually maintained in Avalon, in Australia," Wirth told Channel Nine on Saturday. "Qantas has 85 percent of our maintenance... in fact last year 92 percent of our maintenance was done onshore, in Australia. We've got 5,500 engineers, they're well-trained."

Meanwhile, the Australian and International Pilots Association also said it is becoming increasingly concerned about the ongoing push by airline management to reduce the cost of pilots.

The association said Qantas pilots are usually required to have a minimum of 1,000 hours experience, but some training schools are offering far less in terms of flying requirements.

Qantas, the second-largest buyer of the giant plane, has grounded its fleet of six A380s in Singapore until checks are completed on their Trent 900 engines made by Rolls-Royce.