Hong Kong – Hong Kong’s flagship airline said on Tuesday it had found 15 aircraft with components that needed to be replaced after an in-flight failure of an engine part prompted it to conduct an overall inspection. Airbus A350 fleet.
Cathay Pacific grounded 48 planes for inspections, forcing it to cancel 24 round-trip flights on Tuesday and 10 more on Wednesday, mostly on routes within Asia. The airline said on Tuesday that long-haul flights would not be affected.
The airline ordered an inspection on Monday after flight CX383 experienced problems shortly after takeoff from Hong Kong and turned around. The Zurich-bound flight returned safely to Hong Kong about 75 minutes after its departure, data from a flight tracking platform showed. Shown by FlightRadar24.
Upon landing, Cathay Pacific said it had identified an “engine component failure” in the Airbus A350-1000 aircraft.
“This component was the first of its kind to suffer a failure of this type on any A350 aircraft worldwide,” the airline said in a statement on Monday.
Cathay Pacific is one of the largest operators of the 350-1000, with 18. It also has 30 of the smaller, more popular A350-900 planes, which were also grounded for inspections. Both planes are powered exclusively by British manufacturer Rolls-Royce engines.
Rolls-Royce said Hong Kong authorities had launched an investigation and it was “committed to working closely with the airline, the aircraft manufacturer and relevant authorities to support their efforts.” He said engine components could be replaced while the engine was still running and he would keep other airlines informed of developments.
Shares of Rolls Royce High was opened in London Tuesday after falling 6.5% on Monday.
Airbus, which is based in France, said it was working closely with Rolls-Royce and Cathay Pacific but declined to comment further, citing the ongoing investigation.
Hong Kong’s civil aviation authority did not respond to a request for comment.
Cathay Pacific said on Tuesday that three planes had already been repaired, adding that all planes would be back in service by Saturday. The airline did not specify which engine component failed or the 15 aircraft models that required repairs.
Dozens of A350-1000 jets are in service worldwide with the largest European aircraft operators, including Qatar Airways, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. The airline did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
Tokyo-based Japan Airlines, which operates five Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, said on Tuesday it would conduct inspections during scheduled maintenance as a precaution but did not expect any flight delays or cancellations.
Airlines are looking to Airbus as its only major rival, American plane maker Boeing, has faced a series of safety issues. crash involving its 737 Max plane and mid air The blow of the door plug in January.
Airbus also came under scrutiny earlier this year when the Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating allegations that both Airbus and Boeing used Titanium in their planes that was sold using fake documents. Both companies said there was no impact on the safety of their planes.
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