A A380 (Front View)

Airbus, manufacturer of superjumbo jet planes has been ordered to perfom a check on all of its A380 planes.

The EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) has ordered all 68 A380 planes in operation to be checked after cracks have been found in wing components, last month EASA ordered checks of 20 A380 jets worldwide.

Airbus during the check of the 20 planes that the cracks on the wings, which are produced in North Wales, were not an immediate threat to safety.

The discovery of the fault was made after the aircraft hit severe turbulence on a flight from London to Singapore last month.

Qantas said the cracks were not related to the turbulence, but to "manufacturing issues".

Singapore Airlines, which took delivery of the first A380, has also repaired some of its A380s after finding cracks, and has since put the jets back into operation.

The A380 has been riddled with scandal since its release at Toulouse 7 years ago (Jan '05).

Inital deliveries of the plane (arrived in Oct '07) were delayed by problems with the electrical equipment installations, customers didnt purchase the plane as expected and orders we recieved after a considerable ammount of time after its release, the whole economic viability of the project was questioned.

One of Airbuses main competitiors - Boeing complained about the 'illegal subsidies', the funds that Airbus aqquired by launch aid.

There are currently 253 A380 jets on order to carriers worldwide with Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Air France being among the firm's biggest customers for the jet.

Wednesday February 8^th 2012
The Onlines