Qantas maintenance nightmare continues

Qantas has suffered another blow to its safety record after a hydraulic failure on a Boeing 767 landing at Sydney airport on Wednesday.

The central hydraulic system on QF460 failed as it landed, leaving a hydraulic fluid spill on the runway that took 40 minutes to clean up, the airline confirmed.

This is the latest in a series of incidents to have plagued the Australian airline over the past few months.

Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association president Paul Cousins has told The Australian newspaper that the airline's cost-cutting programme is to blame for the maintenance problems.

Qantas has been "getting rid of personnel who had the necessary experiences to make sure these things get done correctly", Mr Cousins explained.

"Unfortunately, when you don't have the resources, things get missed."

Another hydraulic leak two weeks ago prompted a Philippines-bound plane to dump fuel and return to its Sydney base.

Also on Wednesday, a plane had to be taken out of service for missed scheduled maintenance on a stabiliser jack screw. Qantas blamed a computer system failure for this problem.

And six Boeing 737-400s were grounded last week to carry out modifications recommended eight years ago to prevent an explosive decompression in the forward bulkhead.