Qantas boss shrugs off flight troubles
Qantas chief Alan Joyce has played down recent aircraft troubles that forced four emergency landings in two days, saying such events "happen all the time".
"We have really high reliability. We have low levels of turnbacks compared to most of the world fleets," Mr Joyce told reporters on Tuesday.
The latest of the unplanned landings involved a Qantas flight from Hobart.
The Melbourne-bound flight was forced to turn back 20 minutes into the trip after the captain noticed an indicator light had gone off, pointing to a minor system issue, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.
The Boeing 717 returned to Hobart, where it was assessed by engineers who resolved the problem, before getting the flight back on track.
Yesterday, three other flights experienced unscheduled landings, including a flight on its way to Dallas, which turned back due to problems with the in-flight entertainment system and troubles with some of the toilets.
Earlier, two planes made emergency landings at Perth Airport because of an unusual odour, a faulty warning system and issues with the air-conditioning system.
Mr Joyce says airlines turned back "thousands upon thousands" of flights across the globe every year because of issues affecting passenger comfort and safety.
Turnbacks on Qantas planes occurred at a rate of about half the global average, he said.
He dismissed as "absolute rubbish" suggestions that offshore maintenance was behind the troubles.
Mr Joyce said Qantas was the only carrier in Australia to still carry out maintenance in Sydney and Brisbane.
He apologised to customers who were inconvenienced by the turnbacks, and said the company had gone out of its way to minimise disruptions by putting on extra planes and paying for hotels.
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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