With 4 safety scares in a month, Qantas seems to have serious problems to deal with.
The latest: 4 tires of one of its 747’s taking off from LA International Airport blew up on the runway. The 232 passengers and crew on board were not hurt; everyone was evacuated from the plane immediately and taken to a hotel. According to the story in the Sydney Morning Herald, the plane may leave today “subject to the aircraft being cleared for operations”.
Other things that have happened to Qantas this month (!):
– Qantas flying from Singapore to London was forced to land at New Delhi Airport for 36-hours due to a technical problem.
– Oil was found leaking from a Qantas aircraft about to land at Sydney Airport.
– A Qantas 737 flight from Townsville landed at Brisbane Airport with smoke coming from its landing gear.
AND…earlier this year in January, a 747 lost almost all power on its descent into Bangkok because of a water leak that shut down 3 of the 4 power generating units.
AND AND…all of this happened right after December last year when Qantas announced a record half-year profit before tax of $905 million, a 73 per cent increase on the previous year. Looks like that jinxed the airline big time.