The entire fleet of Airbus A380 passenger planes currently in service are to be checked for cracks in their wings, after Europe's air safety authority extended its order on jet inspections.
The news comes as Australia’s Qantas Airways decided to ground one if its jets after discovering dozens of cracks during a maintenance.
The airline said the 36 cracks posed no threat to safety and they were different from the types of cracks that manufacturer Airbus found in the wings of two jets last month.
On 20 January the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) ordered operators to inspect twenty A380s. The regulator said a third of the fleet - those that have flown more than 1,800 flights - had to be checked within four days.
"This condition, if not detected and corrected, could potentially affect the structural integrity of the aeroplane," said the EASA at the time.
The EASA has now decided to expand its earlier directive to include all 68 A380s in service with airlines around the world.
A source close to the European regulator told Reuters that "an effective repair has been identified" to the problem.
The superjumbos can carry 800 passengers and are operated by airlines including Emirates, Air France, Quantas and Singapore Airlines.
British Airways is due to take delivery of the first of 12 A380s next year, while the first of Virgin's eight superjumbos will arrive in 2015.