Cathay Pacific Airways has completed an inspection of its entire Airbus A350 fleet following an engine component failure on flight CX383 from Hong Kong to Zurich on Monday. The incident occurred several minutes after takeoff.
According to Reuters, the Hong Kong-based airline discovered 15 aircraft requiring component replacements after inspecting its A350 fleet. Three of the 48 Rolls-Royce engine-powered planes have already been successfully repaired. While the issue occurred on one of Cathay Pacific’s 18 A350-1000 jets, the company also inspected 30 A350-900 jets as a precautionary measure. Cathay Pacific anticipates all jets will be operational by Saturday, though the disruption has led to the cancellation of at least 34 round-trip flights.
The airline has secured spare parts for the necessary engine component replacements, which can be completed while the engine remains on the wing. It is not yet known whether the parts to be replaced were identified on the A350-1000 or A350-900 jets.
Despite the incident, the A350 plane safely landed back in Hong Kong about 75 minutes after takeoff. Cathay Pacific has not publicly disclosed the specific engine component that failed. Reuters reports that other airlines have not been instructed to examine their planes with similar engines, and major airlines with A350 planes in their fleets continue to operate them normally. Other airlines operating A350-1000 jets include Qatar Airways and British Airways, among others.
