#NEWS Australia's Qantas A380s back in service from Nov. 27

SYDNEY, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Qantas Airways said on Tuesday that its fleet of A380 superjumbos will start returning to service from Saturday, Nov. 27.

"We are completely comfortable with the operation of the aircraft," chief executive Alan Joyce told reporters on Tuesday.

The airline's six A380s were grounded on Nov. 4, after QF32 flying from Singapore to Sydney suffered an explosion in one of its four engines over the Indonesian island of Batam.

Qantas engineers then began investigations into all of the Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines on the aircraft.

Joyce said Qantas would have four of the A380s operating by Christmas.

The airline plans to take delivery of two more A380s by the end of 2010 and another two in early 2011.

The first flight will be QF31, an A380 due to fly from Sydney to London via Singapore on Saturday.

The aircraft for that service will be transported to Sydney on a ferry flight from Los Angeles.

A second aircraft is expected to depart Los Angeles for Sydney later this week.

As more of the fleet return, Qantas will assess when and how best to deploy them.

"In line with its conservative approach to operational safety, Qantas is voluntarily suspending A380 services on routes that regularly require use of maximum certified engine thrust, and will do so until further operational experience is gained or possible additional changes are made to engines," it said in a statement.

"This is an operational decision by Qantas and pilots still have access to maximum certified thrust if they require it during flight.

Qantas also said its A380 engines remain subject to a European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) airworthiness directive issued on Nov. 11.

The directive mandates that all the Trent 900 engines undergo certain inspections every 20 flying cycles.

Qantas will comply with the directive for A380s brought back into service and for new aircraft entering its fleet.

Asked if Qantas will seek compensation from Rolls Royce, Mr Joyce said: "We will have that dialogue, but now is not the time."

Joyce said Rolls Royce had been "fantastic" during the process to get the fleet back in the air, but he also said the British engine maker was aware of the impact.

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