Qantas Airbus A380-800
Qantas Airbus A380 aircraft on the route from Melbourne to Dubai has been forced to land in Sydney due to a mechanical problem. A Qantas spokesman told AAP that engine vibrations were higher than normal, prompting the decision to land in Sydney, where he was preparing a replacement aircraft.
The A380 landed at Sydney Airport about 6.50 am today.
QF9 flight left Melbourne Airport to 22:40 and turned over southern Australia. The plane was reported made circuits flight levels relatively low, below about 21,000 feet before making a landing well after curfew Sydney had ended in the longest runways north-south parallel.
A spokesman for Qantas said there had been a "slight vibration problem" with one of the Rolls-Royce aircraft engines.
"The pilots decided to return the plane to Sydney, where it is expected that passengers will be transferred on a replacement aircraft later this morning," the spokesman told Fairfax Media. There were 410 passengers on board.
A source told Qantas passengers News Corp Australia put on a different plane, which was scheduled to depart Sydney at 9am AEST.
This is not the first time Qantas has been forced to make priority of its A380 aircraft landings. In December 2014, a flight from Sydney to Dallas had to return to Sydney after the failure of the systems not related to safety on board.
Technical problems affected electric seat entertainment system on board and toilets. That same day, a Qantas A380 with an air conditioning system that does not work was forced to make an emergency landing at the airport in Perth.