European plane maker Airbus has warned that "minor cracks" have been found on the wings of some of its flagship A380 superjumbo jets, including the Qantas plane that had an engine explode mid-air in 2010.

But both Qantas and Airbus insist that there is no risk to passenger safety.

The Toulouse-based company, the main subsidiary of aerospace giant EADS, said it had informed airlines operating the plane about the issue and recommended a way of fixing the problem during standard scheduled maintenance.

"We confirm that minor cracks were found on some non-critical wing rib-skin attachments on a limited number of A380 aircraft," the firm said.

"We have traced the origin. Airbus has developed an inspection and repair procedure which will be done during routine, scheduled four-year maintenance checks.

"In the meantime, Airbus emphasises that the safe operation of the A380 fleet is not affected."

It added European safety regulators had approved the policy and that the plane's performance was not affected.

No risk

Qantas said its A380 fleet was safe to fly despite the tiny cracks being found in one of its superjumbos.

Engineers discovered the crack in the wing ribs of the same plane that had an engine explode mid-air after taking off from Singapore in November 2010.

Qantas said other airlines have also found the cracks but no immediate action is needed because there is no risk to flight safety.

But Australian engineers say the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) should take a stand and order the immediate inspection of all A380s.

Steve Purvinas from the Licensed Engineers Association says CASA should take the lead so that aircraft are inspected immediately.

"We've got problems with our regulator in Australia. They tend to follow the lead of the two big regulators, that is the American one and the European one, and they tend to be driven by the commercial interests of both Airbus and Boeing," he said.

"And when you've got conflicting interests like this we think some of the decisions they're making are very weak."

The A380 is the world's biggest passenger jet and a key product in Airbus's line-up as it battles its main rival US giant Boeing for the top spot in the world civil airliner industry.

The double-decker plane entered service in 2007 after years of technical delays. There are now 67 in service around the world and, while they have never had a fatal accident, there have been teething problems.

Seven European and Asian airlines now operate the 525-seater A380, and the company has 243 orders from 18 carriers.

AFP/ABC