VIVAERO

Cathay Pacific grounds its entire Airbus A350 fleet after finding engine problems

Hong Kong’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific has cancelled dozens of flights as it conducts an inspection of its entire Airbus A350 fleet after finding engine problems affecting the plane.

The airline, one of the world’s largest users of the long-haul jet, said it identified a fault in an engine component on flight CX383 from Hong Kong to Zurich on Monday. The plane later returned to Hong Kong.

The five-year-old A350-1000 plane made two wide circles and dumped fuel over the sea before returning to Hong Kong, where it landed safely about 75 minutes after departure.

“This component was the first of its kind to suffer such a failure on any A350 aircraft in the world,” Cathay said in a statement. A full inspection of its 48-plane fleet revealed “multiple components of the same engine that need to be replaced,” it added. It did not elaborate on the nature of the engine problem. On Tuesday afternoon, the company said it had identified 15 aircraft with affected engine parts that require replacement. Three have been repaired, it said, adding that all affected aircraft would resume operations by Saturday. 

Cathay had canceled 24 flights operating on Monday and Tuesday amid inspection and repair work. The carrier is expected to cancel 10 return regional flights on Wednesday, but long-haul services are not expected to be affected, it said. Reuters reported, citing an unidentified source, that the incident involved a problem with a fuel nozzle, a component that directs fuel into the engine. Cathay said it had contacted the aircraft manufacturer about the engine problem, as well as the engine maker Rolls-Royce and regulators. According to Airbus, the A350 family uses two models of Rolls-Royce’s Trent XWB turbofan engine. 

An Airbus spokesman referred questions to Rolls-Royce. The British aerospace company confirmed in a statement that Flight CX383 was powered by a Trent XWB-97 engine, adding that it was “committed to working closely with the airline, the aircraft manufacturer and the relevant authorities to support their investigation into this incident.” Shukor Yusof, founder of Endau Analytics, a company that monitors the aviation industry, said the A350 was “very safe” but the problem appeared to stem from logistical delays involving engine components, parts and other materials. “Other airlines are also affected, albeit to different extents, but the problem is not going away any time soon due to labor shortages, among other things,” he added. There are 88 A350-1000 jets in operation worldwide. 

The top six operators are Qatar Airways with 24 planes, British Airways with 18, Cathay Pacific with 18, Virgin Atlantic with 12 and Etihad Airways and Japan Airlines (JAL) with five each. There are 520 A350-900s in operation worldwide. It is unclear whether other airlines are inspecting their engines. Brokerage Jefferies said in a note to clients on Monday that 234 XWB-97 engines had been delivered to customers by the end of June.