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Cathay Pacific announced the cancellation of 20 more flights scheduled on Wednesday (Sep 4) as the Hong Kong's flag carrier is inspecting all of its Airbus A350 jets after discovering an engine component failure on one of its planes.
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To allow for a thorough inspection of its fleet of 48 Rolls-Royce powered A350s following a part failure on one of its A350-1000 planes, the airline has decided to cancel an additional 20 flights through the end of Wednesday, in addition to the 48 flights that were announced.
It noted that the 20 newly canceled flights are all flying regional routes, with no further impact on long-haul flights.
Cathay added that it will provide more updates on the flight arrangement for Thursday to Saturday as of 2 pm tomorrow.
Moreover, the airline said Tuesday it found 15 aircraft with components that needed replacing, three of which have already been repaired successfully.
It noted that all of the A350s were expected to resume operation by Saturday.
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters the incident involved a problem with a fuel nozzle inside a XWB-97 engine, the Rolls-Royce model used on the A350-1000.
However, other airlines have not yet been issued instructions to examine similar engines, carriers said.
Tokyo-based Japan Airlines (JAL), which has five A350-1000s that are all less than a year old, said it had asked Rolls-Royce for more information and will continue its A350 flights in the meantime.
"If the engine manufacturer takes any further action, we will respond accordingly," a JAL spokesperson said.
Rolls-Royce has not yet issued a directive to airlines regarding possible inspections, according to an industry source who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
The engine manufacturer said in a statement it is aware of the incident and is committed to working closely with Cathay Pacific, Airbus and authorities conducting an investigation.
Airbus said in a statement it is in contact with Rolls-Royce and Cathay Pacific and is offering "full technical support".
There are around 88 A350-1000 jets in operation worldwide, according to Swiss aviation intelligence provider ch-aviation. The top six operators are Qatar Airways with 24 planes, British Airways with 18, Cathay Pacific with 18, Virgin Atlantic with 12 and Etihad Airways and JAL with five each.
Qatar Airways, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Etihad did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Taiwan's China Airlines, which operates 15 A350-900s but no A350-1000s, said its fleet did not use the affected engines, so its operations would not be impacted.
(Staff reporter and Reuters)
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