Vic: Ansett expects no delays over Easter

AAP General News (Australia)
04-10-2001
Vic: Ansett expects no delays over Easter

MELBOURNE, April 10 AAP - Ansett Airlines does not expect delays to its Easter holiday
flights despite the grounding of some of its Boeing 767 200s because of cracks in engine
pylon mountings.

Cracks had been detected in four of the company's 767 200 fleet, an Ansett spokeswoman
said today.

Repairs had been completed on one of the aircraft, and three of the airline's 767s
were unaffected by the problem.

However three aircraft remained grounded today, the Ansett spokeswoman said.

The airline said repairs would be completed over the next couple of days and Easter
travel would not be affected.

She said the company could fall back on aircraft from Air New Zealand, but this was
unlikely as Ansett expected all aircraft to be back in the air by the weekend.

"We'll have the aircraft back in service by Easter," she told radio 3AW this morning.

"We also have Air New Zealand to back us up and we could bring aircraft across there,
but we don't feel that will be necessary."

Ansett voluntarily grounded three planes over the weekend after engineers carrying
out safety checks discovered cracks of up to five centimetres in the engine pylons.

Engine pylons are the components which join engines to wings.

"The inspections were discretionary so we made a commitment to complete the checks
by the end of April," the Ansett spokesman told ABC radio.

"Once we found the first crack yesterday of course we accelerated that program and
made sure that all of the aircraft that that applied to were inspected immediately."

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) said Ansett may be ordered to upgrade its
aircraft maintenance system following the discovery of the cracks.

CASA spokesman Peter Gibson today said the air safety watchdog had concerns that Ansett's
maintenance procedures were not up to scratch.

"We are concerned that perhaps the systems within Ansett - its practices and procedures
- aren't as good as they should be," he told ABC radio.

"There's been changes there - perhaps there's room for us to now insist on further
changes," he said.

Mr Gibson said once the aircraft had been repaired according to Boeing's specifications
they would be safe to fly.

However, he said the airline's maintenance system would come under fresh scrutiny by CASA.

"We wouldn't go as far as grounding the whole airline because of that problem in one
specific area," he said.

"We may suggest some changes to Ansett that they have to make.

"We will undoubtedly be doing some more checking and auditing of them," he said.

AAP db/maur/jjs/gfr/sp/gmw/br

KEYWORD: ANSETT DAYLEAD

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.