Regulator orders Airbus A380 wing checks Airbus is facing fresh scrutiny over the safety of its flagship A380 "superjumbo" after European regulators ordered inspections for possible wing cracks on all 68 of the double-decker passenger jets in operation. In an escalation of previous demands that airlines examine the 20 most heavily used A380s - the biggest passenger jets built so far - the European Aviation Safety Agency on Wednesday said the entire fleet would need to be checked. The agency said that the "condition, if not detected and corrected, may lead to reduction of the structural integrity of the aeroplane." Airbus, owned by EADS, the Franco-German aerospace group, responded that the aircraft was still safe to fly and that it had found a way to repair the problem. The European regulators have not called for the grounding of aircraft, but stipulated that all will have to be checked once they accumulate 1,300 flights. Those that have already flown more than 1,216 times must be inspected within three to six weeks from now. Two types of cracks have been identified on an L-shaped bracket that connects the wing skin of the A380 to its internal structure. Executives at the Toulouse-based company say the discovery of the wing cracks is embarrassing and are eager that the issue does not dent confidence in an aircraft that cost €12bn to develop but has faced numerous problems during its development and introduction into service. The barely visible hairline cracks were first discovered during repairs to the Qantas A380 jet whose engine exploded mid-flight in November 2010, causing damage to the wing and forcing an emergency landing. Qantas said on Wednesday that it had grounded a second superjumbo after discovering 2cm cracks that were "traced back to a manufacturing issue." Airbus, which builds the wings in Broughton in the UK, where it employs more than 5,000 people, said it had developed repair kits for the problem and were being installed. "These brackets are located on wing ribs which are not main load bearing structure, and, thus, the safe operation of the aircraft is not affected," it said. Nearly 4,000 such brackets are used on the A380 to join the wing-skin to the ribs. Only a handful of brackets per aircraft have been found to have been affected. Airbus has not yet provided an estimate of the cost of the repairs, which could take up to five days for each jet, or for a longer-term solution to make sure new aircraft are not assembled with the same problem. The company has said that it hopes to start making a profit on the A380 by 2015 after billions of euros of cost overruns on what is Europe's biggest industrial project. As well as Qantas, Emirates and Singapore Airlines, the aircraft is operated by Air France-KLM Lufthansa, Korean Air Lines and China Southern. So far, 253 of the distinctive A380s have been ordered by 19 customers.