Qantas' continuing troubles

A fourth safety incident on a Qantas flight on Saturday (August 2nd) in ten days is seriously damaging public confidence in the airline following last week's near-disastrous exploding oxygen cylinder on Flight 30.

A B767-300 aircraft was en route to Tokyo when it had to turn back so a faulty part could be replaced.

Qantas released a statement yesterday saying it was working with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) on a review of the airline's operations.

David Cox, executive general manager of engineering, said he is "totally confident these checks will confirm the integrity our engineering and maintenance operations and our commitment to safety".

"We have no issue with this latest review and CASA says it has no evidence to suggest that safety standards at Qantas have fallen," he added.

Mr Cox described Saturday's incident as a routine and appropriate response to an issue with the aircraft's hydraulic system.

"Qantas Group airlines operate more than 330,000 sectors each year, and issues that require an air turn back are extremely rare," he said.

"In this case, the flight crew responded appropriately, emergency services were on standby at Sydney Airport as a precaution, there was absolutely no safety issue at any time and, after checks, the aircraft was back in service eight hours later."