Cathay Pacific Cancels Flights to Inspect 48 Airbus Aircraft After Engine Issue

The Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific said on Monday that it would inspect its fleet of Airbus A350 planes, leading to some cancellations or delays, after the airline found “an engine component failure” on a plane that was scheduled to travel from Hong Kong to Zurich.

“This component was the first of its type to suffer such failure on any A350 aircraft worldwide,” the airline said in a statement on Monday. The company’s inspection of the 48 planes, which it called a “precautionary measure,” was “well underway,” the statement added, and the airline expected it to be completed on Monday.

“Thus far, we have identified a number of the same engine components that need to be replaced, spare parts have been secured and repair work is underway,” the airline said.

The plane took off from Hong Kong International Airport on Monday, but it “experienced an engine failure after takeoff,” according to Flightradar24, a provider of flight data. After dumping fuel over the sea for about half an hour, the plane returned to Hong Kong’s airport, according to Flightradar24.

The Airbus in question was powered by a Trent XWB-97 engine, according to Rolls-Royce, the engine’s maker. Rolls-Royce said it was “aware of an incident” on the Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Zurich, but declined to release any more information because of an active investigation into the matter.

“We are unable to speculate on what caused this incident and will continue to assist the authorities in finding out exactly what happened,” James Banks, a spokesman for Rolls-Royce, said in an email.

Airbus declined to comment, but Guillaume Steuer, a spokesman, said in an email that the company was “aware of the situation and in touch with Rolls-Royce as well as Cathay Pacific.”

Because of the inspection, some planes will be grounded for several days, which will cause delays, Cathay Pacific said. So far, the airline said it had canceled 24 return flights through Tuesday.

After the inspection, aircraft that are cleared will return to service, while those with technical issues will undergo repairs, Cathay’s director of engineering, Keith Brown, said in the company’s statement.

For five years, Airbus has been the world’s biggest plane manufacturer. Last year, the company said it delivered 735 commercial aircraft, an 11 percent increase from 2022, securing more orders than Boeing, its chief rival. Boeing has been in the middle of a public-relations and safety crisis over a string of failures with its 737 Max line of airliners.

On its website, Airbus described the engines that power its A350 aircraft as “the world’s most efficient large aero-engine.”