An Airbus SE A350 aircraft operated by Cathay Pacific is parked on the tarmac at Hong Kong International Airport on Tuesday, September 3, 2024.
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Hong Kong Flagship Airlines Cathay Pacific It confirmed on Wednesday it expected to resume service on its Airbus A350 aircraft by the weekend after an in-flight engine problem prompted fleet-wide inspections of the planes and dozens of flight cancellations.
The airline previously announced that a flight to Zurich was forced to return to Hong Kong on September 2 due to an engine part failure. Engine by British manufacturer rolls royce.
Cathay Pacific said on Wednesday that 15 of the 48 A350 aircraft in its fleet, which also includes the A350-900 model, were found to have engine fuel lines that needed to be replaced. Six of them have been repaired and cleared for operation, with the remaining nine expected to be back in operation by Saturday, September 7, the report added.
Repairs were carried out relatively quickly as spare parts were plentiful and the replacement was performed with the engine still on the wing rather than having to be removed.
The disruption resulted in a total of 45 return flights being canceled between September 2 and 7, with all but one scheduled to fly to regional rather than long-haul destinations.
“This is a significant situation for Cathay Pacific to deal with as the engine part failure is the first of its kind on any A350 aircraft in the world,” Alex McGowan, Cathay Pacific’s chief operations and service delivery officer, said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Completing a thorough inspection and maintenance of all A350 aircraft in such a short period of time is a challenge. Being able to handle and resolve this issue safely reflects the enterprising spirit of Cathay Pacific people.”
The grounding of Cathay Pacific’s A350 flights caused engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce’s shares to fall 6.5% on Monday, as investors panicked about the possibility of a similar situation. Long-standing problems with the Trent 1000 engineThis ultimately cost the company more than £2.4 billion ($3 billion).
Shares closed slightly higher on Tuesday analysts said Early indications are that the issue is a “quick fix” with limited long-term impact, rather than a fundamental design flaw in the engine.
Rolls-Royce said on Tuesday it was cooperating with Hong Kong authorities’ investigation and would keep other airlines operating Trent XWB-97 engines “fully informed” of the situation.
Airlines with A350s in their fleets include Qatar Airways, British Airways, Japan Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.
