Rolls-Royce says fault specific to A380 engine Rolls-Royce says it has made "good progress" in understanding the cause of last week's mid-air engine blowout, which forced the emergency landing of a Qantas Airbus A380 in Singapore.

Qantas grounded its six A380s last Thursday after an engine broke apart in flight, forcing QF32 to make an emergency landing in Singapore with 459 passengers and crew on board.

Rolls-Royce says the cause of the blow-out is specific to its Trent 900 engine, which powers the A380 aircraft.

A series of inspections have been agreed on with operators of the A380 and with regulators.

The statement from the aircraft engine manufacturer comes as Qantas extends the grounding of its A380 fleet after finding oil leaks in some engines.

Rolls-Royce has been almost silent in the wake of last week's very public incident, in which time its shares have slid by nearly 14 per cent, wiping $2.4 billion off its market value.

But since its statement today shares have rebounded slightly by 2.7 per cent.

Earlier, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said the oil leaks found in the engine were beyond normal tolerances and could be the cause of last week's emergency.

"Those engines have been removed from the aircraft in question and Rolls-Royce are using those engines to test them and look for - could this be the real cause of the QF32 incident last week?" he said.