Rolls-Royce shares nosedive after new engine alert

Shares in Rolls-Royce fell another 5p to 601½p today after Singapore Airlines said it had taken three of its Airbus A380 superjumbos out of service to make "precautionary changes" to the planes' engines.

The company has seen its shares plunge 53p, or 8%, since the blowout of a Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine on one of Qantas's A380s last Thursday.

However, reports have suggest the problem should not be a major concern for A380s apart from the fleet run by Qantas, since the carrier was running the engines at a higher thrust power than those in jets flown by Singapore Airlines or Lufthansa.

This is because of the length of the long-haul route between Melbourne and Sydney and Los Angeles and the extra fuel required.