TWENTY years ago, Qantas's enviable safety record was celebrated in the film Rain Man when Dustin Hoffman's character remarked that not one of the airline's planes had ever crashed.

Indeed, Qantas basked in the reputation of being the world's safest airline.

The skies are not looking so clear now for the flying kangaroo after a series of incidents, including Friday's terrifying emergency landing.

While Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon has remained phlegmatic about the incident, passengers have spoken of their gut-clenching horror when a loud explosion was heard on board flight QF30 an hour after it left Hong Kong bound for Melbourne.

After a rapid descent and an emergency landing in Manila, the true picture emerged.

A hole measuring two metres by four metres gaped in the fuselage of the Boeing 747-400, just underneath Qantas's famous Spirit of Australia logo.

This must surely serve as a wake-up call to the airline which once deserved its proud reputation.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating how the hole ripped through the fuselage.

Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon yesterday detailed the extensive maintenance checks this aircraft has gone through in Australia since 2004.

Nevertheless, questions about the checks must be answered.

The airline stands accused by a pilots association of putting profits before human lives, outsourcing maintenance overseas where, engineers say, safety standards are inferior.

Only 10 days ago, the airline announced a further 1500 jobs would be slashed as fuel prices continue to bite at its bottom line.

And last week, the Australian and International Pilots Association made a submission to the Government's aviation white paper in which it expressed concern that financial pressures were "forcing airlines to adopt less safe practices".

This is something which should give all air travellers pause for thought as fuel prices continue to rise and the aviation industry feels the pinch.