Singapore Airlines Ltd. (C6L.SG) said Wednesday that three of its 11 A380 super jumbos were flying back to Singapore to have their Rolls-Royce Group PLC (RR.LN) Trent 900 engines replaced after an engine blowout on a Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN.AU) A380 last week.

"They are en route to Singapore as we speak. They are flying without passengers," Nicholas Ionides, SIA's vice-president for public affairs, told Dow Jones Newswires.

He said that the three planes had been grounded in London, Melbourne and Sydney.

The carrier's CEO, Chew Choon Seng, said all three planes would land in Singapore later Wednesday and would be out of service for one to two days for the engine replacement.

"The Trent engine on the A380 has been reliable so far. Since it was inducted in October 2007, it's been three years now, it has done 10,000 flights, flown for 100,000 hours and carried four million passengers. We have replacement engines available," Chew told reporters.

"We have a TotalCare package with Rolls Royce. It's like leasing a car, they are responsible for the maintenance," he added.

SIA's decision to replace the engines was another setback for plane manufacturer Airbus and Rolls-Royce after the mid-air explosion of one Trent 900 engine on a Qantas A380 flying from Singapore to Sydney last Thursday.

But other Asian airlines with orders for the A380 said they had no plans to cancel or defer their A380 orders.

"I don't see this damaging the image of the A380. It is painful for Rolls Royce and their new engine (Trent 900), but if they rectify the problem quickly, the damage will be contained," said Peter Harbison, executive chairman of the Sydney-based Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, a respected aviation think tank.

Earlier Wednesday SIA said in a statement it would "be carrying out precautionary engine changes on three A380s," following the Qantas incident.

"We apologise to our customers for flight disruptions that may result and we seek their understanding," the statement said.

Ionides said he didn't know when the planes would return to service and that it was too early to give an estimate of the financial cost to the carrier.

"Rolls-Royce has recommended further detailed inspections of three engines (one on each aircraft) as a result of oil staining. This is to ensure that the cause of the oil staining can be determined," he said.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE), which operates three A380 aircraft powered by Trent 900 engines, found no evidence of oil leaks similar to those identified by Singapore Airlines, a spokesman said. However, the German carrier late Tuesday changed one engine on one A380 in Frankfurt due to an issue unrelated to the Qantas incident, the spokesman said, adding that the aircraft hadn't been taken out of service and had maintained its schedule.

Qantas last week grounded its fleet of six A380 jetliners after a Sydney-bound aircraft suffered an engine explosion that forced the plane, carrying 466 passengers and crew, to return to Singapore for an emergency landing.

Qantas said Monday that it had narrowed the investigation into A380 engine problems to the possibility of an oil leakage but said other areas of the engine remain under investigation.

Rolls Royce, which said Monday that it had made progress in understanding the cause of the blowout and that it was clear the incident was specific to the Trent 900 engine, declined to comment Wednesday. But the Derby, England-based company appears to be adjusting its recommendations for operators based on the findings of its investigation.

Malaysian Airline System Bhd. (3786.KU) said it will keep its order for six A380s for now. The planes will be powered by Trent 900 engines.

"At this point, it is premature to speculate on the actual cause of the engine failure. As such, we have no plans to either defer the A380, or re-evaluate our choice of engine," Chief Executive Azmil Zahruddin told Dow Jones Newswires.

The national carrier expects its first A380 delivery in the first half of 2012.

Azmil said the airline will monitor the situation "very closely" and is "in touch with the manufacturers."

Thai Airways International PCL (TAWNF) with six A380s on order to be powered by the Trent 900 engines, said nothing has changed regarding its order. Montree Jumrieng, managing director of Thai's technical department, said the airline is waiting for the official report on the incident on the Qantas plane. All six planes are scheduled for delivery in 2012 and 2013.

Korean Air Lines Co. Ltd. (003490.SE) has 10 A380s on order, with five of them scheduled to arrive in 2011 and another five due until 2014. The carrier isn't using Rolls-Royce engines.

A China Southern Airlines Co. (1055.HK) spokesman said if nothing goes wrong, it expects delivery of the first of five A380 jets in the second half of 2011. He didn't specify the engine type.

-By Costas Paris, Dow Jones Newswires; 65 6415 4151; costas.paris@dowjones.com

(Gaurav Raghuvanshi in Singapore, K.P. Lee in Kuala Lumpur, Phisanu Phromchanya in Bangkok, Kyong-Ae Choi in Seoul, Joanne Chiu in Hong Kong and Daniel Michaels in Brussels contributed to this article.)