The QantasLink turnback followed another false-start for a Sydney to Melbourne flight which was returned to Melbourne after the Boeing 737-800 twin-engine’s pilots were alerted to a minor engine issue. Both engines remained operational throughout the flight and the aircraft was not given priority to land as it was not an emergency.

Australian airspace is considered to be among the safest in the world,despite regular fault indicators necessitating turnbacks across all airlines. Qantas has not had a passenger fatality since the onset of the jet age and younger competitor Virgin Australia is yet to crash at all.

There are more than 10,000 “turnbacks” across the aviation industry every year,with Australia’s largest carrier Qantas averaging 60.

The airline’s pilot union president Anthony Lucas said pilots will always act with an “abundance of caution”.

“Our overwhelming priority will always be the safety and welfare of our passengers and crew,” he said.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority said it is confident Qantas is operating safely and actively reviews and monitors the industry.

More often than not,turnbacks do not signify emergency situations. Sometimes,they happen when an airline does not have the required resources or engineers in another country to efficiently service the aircraft,so return an aircraft to a home airport to cause less disruption to future flights.

Aviation consultant Matthew Findlay said media coverage over the past week was unhelpful and overdramatic.

“I think most in the industry would say it’s whipped up hysteria that is overdramatic. Fault indicators and turnbacks happen regularly,but we’re talking about one of the safest industries in the world,” he said.

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