Rolls-Royce missed several chances to fix A380 engine problem – safety report

Australian Transport Safety Bureau says company knew three years before Qantas blowout that parts failed to meet standards

Rolls-Royce missed several chances over a three-year period to fix a problem that caused an engine blowout on a Qantas A380 jet with more than 450 people on board in 2010, according to a report by Australia's aviation safety body.

The report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) detailed how faulty manufacturing processes had led to one of Rolls-Royce's Trent 900 engines exploding at 2,100 metres (7,000ft) over Indonesia on a flight from Singapore to Sydney in November 2010.

According to the ATSB report, Rolls-Royce knew at least three years before the accident that components manufactured at its Hucknall plant in Nottingham failed to conform to design standards. An initial investigation by the company in 2007 failed to understand the consequences of using parts that did not match the design specification.

The damaged engine of Qantas's A380 superjumbo after it made an emergency landing at Changi airport In 2009, a Rolls-Royce engineer identified the potential risk of these defective parts, but the company failed to carry out an investigation into what this would mean for its fleet of Trent 900 engines.

Rolls-Royce missed "a number of opportunities … generally because of ambiguities within the manufacturer's procedures and the non-adherence by a number of the manufacturing staff to those procedures", the ATSB report concluded. The safety agency also highlighted cultural flaws at the Hucknall plant, where it was acceptable not to report so-called minor deviations in parts.

This was the first major safety scare for the Airbus A380 jet and resulted in Qantas temporarily grounding its entire fleet – although Airbus subsequently said the aircraft's resilience was proven by its ability to land despite severe damage to its left wing.

The A380 superjumbo was just minutes into its flight after takeoff from Changi airport Singapore when members of the crew heard two loud bangs. A faulty feed pipe had cracked causing oil to spray into one of the plane's four engines, which burst into flames. Several passengers saw fuel escaping from the under the affected wing.

The pilot, praised for his competence by the ATSB, returned to Singapore and brought the stricken plane down just 150 metres from the end of the runway. None of the 440 passengers and 24 cabin crew were injured, although several homes beneath the flight path were badly damaged when fragments from the engine turbine smashed into walls.

Since the accident, Rolls-Royce has introduced software that would shut down a Trent 900 engine to prevent a repeat occurrence. The ATSB, which issued a safety recommendation to Rolls-Royce in December 2010, said it was satisfied with the steps taken regarding Trent 900 engines in A380 planes, adding that quality control at Hucknall had improved.

Rolls-Royce said it accepted the conclusions of the ATSB report. "On this occasion we clearly fell short," said Colin Smith, director of engineering and technology at Rolls-Royce. "We support the ATSB's conclusions and, as the report notes, have already applied the lessons learned throughout our engineering, manufacturing and quality assurance procedures to prevent this type of accident from happening again."

The engine manufacturer agreed to pay Qantas A$95m (£62m) in a 2011 settlement.

Article Source : http://www.guardian.co.uk

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UK car sales boom raises industry hopes

Car sales jumped by almost 15% in April compared with the same month last year, defying a slump across Europe

Car sales in the UK continue to storm ahead, defying the present economic climate and in contrast to the dire markets across Europe.

Car sales jumped by almost 15% in April compared with the same month last year and are 9% higher in the first four months of 2013. Sales to individuals drove the numbers higher, with private sales up 32% compared with April last year.

Volkswagen has warned that the European downturn could hit the group's profit in the coming months

 Britons have been attracted by bargain deals on new cars, as well as attractive financing packages. Some motorists have also been prompted to buy more fuel efficient cars because of high petrol prices.

Analysts say there may also be pent-up demand. Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight said: "We've had bad economic times for an extended period. A lot of people have delayed buying new cars, so more and more people are getting to the stage where their cars have had it."

The figures are an encouraging sign for the UK economy. Archer said: "It does lift hopes that consumers are prepared to spend on big items."

But he noted that the car market has outstripped the wider economy for some time now. Last year, new car sales rose by 5.3%, while the economy inched ahead by just 0.3%.

Despite the buoyant start to the year, Archer said the car market faces difficult conditions in the coming months: "A serious concern for the industry is that consumers could rein in their spending on big-ticket items over the coming months as their purchasing power is squeezed by higher consumer price inflation and muted wage growth.

"There have also been recent signs that employment is stuttering after growing markedly through 2012."

Companies are also under pressure to contain costs and business confidence remains fragile. Archer said: "A worry for the car industry therefore is that many fleet operators and businesses will delay replacing vehicles to help contain their costs in an extended weak and uncertain economic environment."

The health of the UK car market stands in sharp contrast to Europe, where sales slumped by more than 10% in March. Analysts were particularly concerned by a 17% slump in new car sales in Germany.

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Article source : http://www.guardian.co.uk

Rolls-Royce accused of bribing a Chinese airline executive

Blogger alleges that airline executive accepted payments as intermediary in deal to supply aircraft engines valued at £1.25bn

Rolls-Royce is facing allegations that it paid bribes to an executive involved with two Chinese airlines, in the latest claims attached to a corruption probe at the aircraft engine maker.

A Rolls-Royce jet engine on show. Orders for two Chinese airlines have come under spotlight over alleged payments to an intermediary. Photograph: Rolls-Royce

The latest allegations are contained in postings by a blogger operating under the pseudonym of "soaringdragon" and related to deals worth a total of $2bn (£1.25bn) with Air China in 2005 and China Eastern in 2010. They claim an executive who worked at both airlines, Chen Qin, accepted payments as an intermediary in those deals.

Rolls-Royce revealed last month that the Serious Fraud Office hadapproached the company over allegations of malpractice in Indonesia and China, prompting the Derby-based manufacturer to conduct its own investigation through a law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton. In a statement last month Rolls-Royce said the probe had found "matters of concern" in Indonesia and China and other unspecified markets, relating to "concerns about bribery and corruption involving intermediaries in overseas markets."

Rolls-Royce, which is aware of the Soaringdragon postings, declined to comment on whether the blogger's allegations were included in the dossier passed to the SFO. However, the Sunday Times published a statement from China Eastern which appeared to confirm the blogger's claim that Chen Qin had been arrested by the Chinese authorities in 2011. It said: "Neither China Eastern nor Air China has any right to talk about Chen's case; only prosecutorial organs know the real background."

The deals at the centre of the allegations boosted Rolls-Royce's presence in the rapidly growing Asian aviation market. In 2005 Rolls-Royce said it had received an order from Air China for Trent 700 engines, to power the Airbus A330, worth $800m. Then in 2010 Rolls-Royce said it had won an order from China Eastern worth $1.2bn for Trent 700 engines to power 16 A330 aircraft. The China Eastern deal was signed in the presence of David Cameron, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, during an official trade mission to China.

Rolls-Royce faces the threat of a multimillion-pound fine on both sides of the Atlantic if the allegations escalate into official investigations by authorities, although the SFO and the US Department of Justice have yet to announce whether they will proceed with formal probes. The Soaringdragon postings are the second set of allegations implicating Rolls-Royce in corruption to be posted on the internet. Dick Taylor, a former Rolls-Royce employee in Indonesia, had alleged via a series of online postings that Tommy Suharto, the son of the former Indonesian president, was paid $20m (£12m) by Rolls-Royce and given a Rolls-Royce car to persuade the Garuda airline to buy Trent 700 engines in 1990. Taylor has said he felt "cheated" by his experience at Rolls-Royce, the world's second largest aircraft engine maker, after he was warned that he risked redundancy when he raised concerns over a colleague's expenses claims. Taylor subsequently took early retirement in 2004 but claims that Rolls-Royce was still making payments to intermediaries in Indonesia in 2010.

The Asia-Pacific region is a vital market for western aerospace companies targeting new customers amid stagnating demand at home. According to Airbus, the region will account for 35% of aircraft deliveries over the next 20 years, with China overtaking the US as the world's largest domestic airline market from 2031 onwards. As well as bringing opportunities for aircraft makers such as Airbus and Boeing, new jet sales also boost orders for engines. The front-runners for those orders are the likes of Rolls-Royce and its US rivals, General Electric and Pratt & Whitney.

Speaking in December, Rolls-Royce's chief executive, John Rishton, said the company would not tolerate "improper business conduct of any sort."

"This is a company with exceptional prospects and I will not accept any behaviour that undermines its future success". The company also announced that it will appoint an "independent senior figure" to review its compliance process and report to the board's ethics committee. Rolls-Royce is one of Britain's blue-chip exporters and thus a key manufacturer in George Osborne's "march of the makers", posting revenues of £11.3bn last year and a pre-tax profit of £1.2bn, with its strong future prospects underlined by an order book worth £62.2bn.

Rolls-Royce has admitted that the disclosures could result in the "prosecution of individuals and the company." Legal experts have warned that Rolls-Royce's co-operation so far will not spare the business from a prosecution by the SFO. The organisation's new boss, David Green, has signalled that the SFO will eschew settlements in favour of prosecutions, tackling a perception that it had been keener in recent years to deal with cases outside the courtroom.

Article source : http://www.guardian.co.uk

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