A mechanical defect?grounds?China Southern Airlines' first A380 Saturday.

China Southern Airlines said Sunday evening that its first superjumbo Airbus A380 will resume operation today after the plane was forced to cancel flights on Sunday due to a mechanical malfunction.

The airline has resolved the problem with the jet and will resume its scheduled flights on the Beijing-Guangzhou and Guangzhou-Beijing routes by Monday at 4:00 p.m., Peng Jun, an officer at China Southern, said.

The company said that the accident, which came less than 12 days after airplane's maiden flight, was due to a faulty flap driving system on the wings, and that the airline had to get equipment shipped from abroad to fix it, according to a Shanghai Daily report.

The airline replaced the A380 with two smaller A330s yesterday to fly the scheduled route after the jumbo jet malfunctioned.

China Southern received its first fleet of five 506-seat A380s on Oct. 15 to become the first operator of the superjumbo in China and the seventh globally.

China's business press carried the story above on Monday.