Source: Airbus
Cathay Pacific Airways announced it will have its entire Airbus A350 fleet back in operation by September 7, following repairs to fuel lines in the aircraft’s Rolls-Royce Trent engines. This comes after an in-flight engine component failure earlier this week, prompting inspections across the fleet.
The incident involved a leak in the fuel system of a Zurich-bound A350-1000, causing a brief engine fire that was quickly extinguished by the crew. The plane returned to Hong Kong shortly after takeoff. It was the first such failure reported on any A350 aircraft globally. Following the incident, Cathay Pacific discovered 15 of its 48 A350s required fuel line repairs. This resulted in the cancellation of 45 round-trip flights, primarily on regional Asian routes. As of September 4, six aircraft have been repaired and cleared for operation.
The incident has caused several Asian airlines to conduct precautionary inspections of their own A350s. This includes Japan Airlines (JAL), which completed inspections on three of its five A350-1000s and found no issues. Singapore Airlines is also inspecting its A350-900 engines as a precaution, but flights are operating normally.
Other airlines that operate the A350-1000 are monitoring the situation and remain in communication with Rolls-Royce. Rolls-Royce itself has not issued a mandate for fleet-wide inspections, leaving airlines to determine their own course of action.
image sources
- Airbus A350-1000: Airbus
