The EASA plans to extend the requirement to all of the 68 A380s currently in service, EASA spokesman Dominique Fouda told Dow Jones Newswires.

Inspections have found cracks in wing brackets in most of the 20 planes examined in recent weeks. Interim repairs have been carried out and several aircraft are back into service.

Fouda said the revised directive will require A380 operators to check for cracks using non-destructive techniques involving special equipment that detects cracks using high-frequency electrical currents. Up to now, the inspections have been visual.

Earlier Wednesday, Australia's flag carrier Qantas Airways said it has taken one of its Airbus A380 superjumbos out of service after cracks were discovered in its wings.

Qantas said Airbus has confirmed to the airline that the cracks don't pose a threat to safety. Airbus requested precautionary inspections of the Qantas jet's wings after it ran into severe turbulence above India in early January.

"During these inspections minor cracking has been found on some wing rib feet," a Qantas spokeswoman said. This cracking is not related to the turbulence, or specific to Qantas, but is traced back to a manufacturing issue," she said.

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