Cathay Pacific to inspect Airbus A350 fleet after ‘engine component failure’

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Cathay Pacific said it had started an inspection of its entire fleet of Airbus A350 aircraft as a “precautionary measure” following an engine problem on one of its long-haul jets.

The Hong Kong-based carrier said on Monday it had identified an “engine component failure” in a Zurich-bound A350 aircraft that forced the plane to return to Hong Kong. The engines for the wide-body plane are made by Rolls-Royce but the airline did not specify the component in question.

Shares in Rolls-Royce, the sole provider of engines for A350 jets, fell 6.5 per cent in London on the news. Airbus shares were down 1.6 per cent.

Cathay said it was the first of its kind to have failed on any A350 worldwide.

“This component was the first of its type to suffer such failure on any A350 aircraft worldwide,” said Cathay in a statement. “We have identified a number of the same engine components that need to be replaced, spare parts have been secured and repair work is under way.”

The inspection of Cathay’s fleet of 48 A350 aircraft means passengers will face delays and cancellations in the coming days. The airline has cancelled at least 24 return flights up to Tuesday.

Although the cause of the problem is not yet known, industry executives will be watching the situation closely after a recent string of issues with aircraft engines that have proven disruptive and costly to airlines.

Rolls-Royce’s Trent XWB engines power both variants of the A350: its XWB-84 engine powers the smaller A350-900 variant, while its XWB-97 engine powers the larger model, the A350-1000.

Rolls-Royce said it was “aware of an incident involving Cathay Pacific flight CX383 from Hong Kong to Zurich” and confirmed that the aircraft was powered by Trent XWB-97 engines.

The company said it was “committed to working closely with the airline, aircraft manufacturer and the relevant authorities to support their investigation into this incident” but declined to comment further.

Airbus referred questions to Rolls-Royce and the airline, saying it was aware of the situation. Europe’s aviation regulator EASA said it would be “monitoring any information coming out of the technical investigation”, adding that it would take “decisions on any fleet level action as required”.

There are 86 A350-1000 jets in operation globally, according to Airbus data to the end of July. Cathay is one of the largest operators of A350s, including 18 A350-1000.

Other large A350-1000 operators include Qatar Airways, BA and Virgin Atlantic. All three airlines have been contacted for comment.