Grounded Qantas passengers getting alternate flights

Dubai A Qantas Airways flight which diverted to Dubai Airport because a problem forced the shutdown of one of its engines, is busy booking passengers on alternate flights to London.

Flight QF31, heading from Singapore to London, landed safely, and none of the 258 passengers or 25 crew was hurt.

Engineers were inspecting the plane but it was not expected to be back in the air soon.

On board the aircraft was actor and QI host Stephen Fry. He Tweeted to his millions of followers that Qantas apologised for the incident. The airline was however, having difficulty finding seats on alternative carriers for the passengers because of the Eid Al Adha public holidays.

Fry is returning to London after touring Australia for QI.

An oil problem apparently forced the shutdown of one of the superjumbo jet's four engines. Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth is reported to have said that the flight crew shut down the A380's engine after noticing a problem with its oil quantity.

Rough months

It was exactly a year ago that another Qantas A380 had a midair engine explosion after takeoff from Singapore. In that case, a defective engine pipe leaked oil, sparking a fire that destroyed a turbine disc and sent pieces of the disc into the plane's wing, an Australian safety report said. A380s around the world were grounded so engine maker Rolls-Royce could replace the part.

"This is a one-off incident," Wirth said of yesterday's engine problem. "Obviously, it will be a priority of ours to work out what the particular problem is in this engine."

According to news agency reports, it has been a rough few months for Qantas. Last weekend, the airline grounded its entire fleet and threatened to lock out unions that had been staging months of strikes.

The move stranded thousands of passengers around the world and enraged government officials, who ordered an emergency court hearing. On Monday, the court ordered the airline to end the lockout and ordered the unions to halt their strikes. Flights were back to normal by Tuesday.

On Wednesday, officials said police were investigating the suspected sabotage of the entertainment system on a Qantas plane. Qantas said engineers noticed several wires were cut on the plane's in-flight entertainment system.