The designers of the Airbus A380 probably should’ve allocated a bit more time to the structural engineering and a bit less time with the luxury accommodations. Last week reports first surfaced that hairline cracks was discovered inside the jumbo jet’s wing. Now another set of cracks was discovered in the wings of the world’s largest jetliner.

The A380 – developed at an estimated cost of 12 billion euros in Britain, France, Germany and Spain and sold at a catalogue price of $390 million – has room on its wings to park 70 cars and a wingspan of 79.8m (261ft 10in).

Airbus said the cracks were found on a number of “non-critical” brackets inside the wings of two aircraft during routine two-year inspections, after similar flaws showed up in five aircraft in early January.

“They (Airbus) have described these as tiny cracks, but every crack starts off as a tiny crack and they can grow very quickly. I would be worried that Airbus aren’t taking seriously the ever increasing number of cracks being found in the wings of their A380 aircraft. Put it this way, I wouldn’t put my family on an A380 at the moment,” said Stephen Purvinas, Federal Secretary of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association.

The Australian engineering union said Airbus was downplaying the issue and that Airbus’s reaction was concerning. Some Asian airlines said they would now develop independent inspection programs.

Qantas said the latest cracks were not found in its fleet of 12 A380s.

“It is embarrassing, but we will do everything to ensure safety is not compromised,” Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders said.

“We have a pretty good understanding, but the investigation is ongoing. What we have developed already is a repair solution and this is what we will apply on the various aircraft if and where it is necessary,” he told CNN television.

The A380 – developed at an estimated cost of 12 billion euros in Britain, France, Germany and Spain and sold at a catalogue price of $390 million – has room on its wings to park 70 cars and a wingspan of 79.8m (261ft 10in).

Read full article from Yahoo, “More cracks found in Airbus A380 wings”