Cathay Pacific grounds 15 A350s after engine component ‘failure’

Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific has cancelled around 70 flights after an Airbus A350 aircraft flying to Zurich had to turn around following the failure of an engine component.

Cathay launched an inspection of all 48 of its A350s following the incident on Monday (2 September) and found that 15 of these aircraft needed to have engine parts changed.

The airline added that these aircraft had been temporarily grounded while this work takes place, leading to cancellations of some regional services around Asia and to Australia. Cathay is continuing to operate its European routes and other long-haul services as normal.

“Following the in-flight return on 2 September, Cathay Pacific identified an engine component failure in the A350 aircraft involved,” said the airline in a statement.

“We immediately brought this issue to the attention of the aircraft and engine manufacturers as well as our regulators. As a precautionary measure, a fleet-wide inspection of our A350 aircraft was initiated immediately.”

Cathay added that it expected all 15 affected aircraft to resume service by Saturday (7 September).

“At Cathay, safety of our customers and our people guides every decision we make,” said the carrier in an online update. “We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused and appreciate our customers’ patience and understanding.”

The airline’s A350s are powered by Rolls-Royce’s Trent XWB-97 engines.

Rolls-Royce said it was “working closely with the airline, aircraft manufacturer and the relevant authorities to support their efforts”, as well as keeping other airlines using the same engines “fully informed” of developments.

British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways are among the airlines currently operating A350s.