By Matt O'Sullivan
Standing firm ... Qantas union representatives Murray Masters, left, pilot Barry Jackson, Chris O'Grady and Frank Manocchio at Parliament House yesterday.Credit: Andrew Meares
QANTAS has been forced to take another A380 superjumbo out of service after an oil problem was discovered in one of its Rolls-Royce engines.
The temporary grounding came as the stoush between Qantas's chief executive, Alan Joyce, and union leaders intensified over the decision to axe about 1000 jobs as part of plans to expand into Asia.
Several Labor MPs joined Greens and Independent politicians lending their support to the union fight against the job cuts affecting mostly pilots, engineers and cabin crew.
Yesterday, the airline confirmed it would have to change an engine on an A380, which is stuck at Los Angeles International Airport while it awaits a replacement to be flown in from Australia.
The ''oil consumption problem'' was discovered in QF12's No.2 engine, forcing cancellation of a service between Los Angeles and Sydney on Monday night. The passengers booked on the A380 have since arrived in Australia on alternative flights.
Qantas expects to have the engine change completed by Saturday, allowing the A380 to return to service.
Qantas grounded its entire A380 fleet for weeks last November, after one aircraft suffered extensive damage when an engine exploded soon after take-off from Singapore. The airline later changed 17 Rolls-Royce engines on its A380 fleet.
A Qantas spokesman said the latest problem was not related to the cause of the engine explosion on the Nancy Bird-Walton, which was still being repaired at Singapore's Changi Airport. That related to an oil-feed pipe in the engine's turbine.
Fending off union claims that Qantas's restructuring would indirectly lead to the loss of as many as 6500 jobs, Mr Joyce met the federal Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, and the Nationals leader, Warren Truss, yesterday in an effort to allay fears about the impact of plans to set up two new airlines in Asia. Last Thursday, it is understood he briefed the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, about the restructure.
Lending his support to the unions, a Labor senator, Glenn Sterle, said the ALP was ''not the party that throws out Australian jobs''. The Transport Workers Union had claimed as many as 6500 jobs would indirectly be lost as a result of Qantas's cost-cutting measures.
But Mr Joyce accused unions of trashing the Qantas brand and making ''misleading claims'' about offshoring jobs and airline safety. Qantas would end up ''going the way of Ansett, TWA and Pan Am'' if it did not push ahead with substantive changes to its international operations, he said.
Qantas has been reluctant to spell out the cost savings from its rapid expansion into Asia but stock analysts yesterday put it at almost $120 million a year.
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