And they have examples from recent history to back this up, in the wake of three glitches hitting Singapore Airlines' new Airbus 380 superjumbo in less than two months.

Mr David Easton, a United Kingdom-based aviation industry veteran, cited the Boeing 747's teething problems in 1970.

Its engines refused to start if there were crosswinds, so the jumbo jet had to be towed away from such winds in the early days until engineers tweaked the plane's engines.

Another UK-based aviation consultant, Mr Dancho Atanasov, added that the Airbus 320 also had problems with its auto-pilot system, and the B777 had 'systems failures' back in the mid-90s.

Referring to SIA's recent woes with the A380, aviation industry observers noted that, with just three A380s in its fleet - all flying either between Singapore and Sydney or London - faults become a big inconvenience for passengers because there are no spare jets they can be transferred to when a problem crops up.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.