Damaged Qantas aircraft set to fly again

29/08/2008 23:17:41

Australia carrier ,Qantas, says the plane that had its fuselage damaged by an exploding oxygen cyclinder last month will be back in the air in November.

A preliminary report released by Air safety authorities confirms the 747 was forced to land to due to an exploding oxygen cylinder which tore through the cargo hold into the cabin and through the fuselage.

A statement from Qantas says it will cost around $AUS10 million dollars to repair the aircraft and have it back in service.

Julian Walsh from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau says based on the current evidence there is little Qantas could have done to prevent the incident.

"There is nothing at this stage the ATSB can identify that could have been done to prevent this because we don't really know why the bottle failed and that's the key question for the investigation."

Produced by Radio Australia and Australia Network