What are airlines doing in response to Cathay Pacific’s Airbus A350 engine failure?

SEVERAL airlines are carrying out precautionary inspections on their Airbus A350 fleets after Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific found 15 planes that needed fuel line repairs following the in-flight failure of an engine part on Sep 2.

The issue occurred on a five-year-old Airbus A350-1000, which uses Rolls-Royce’s Trent XWB-97 engines, but carriers are also inspecting the more popular A350-900 aircraft which use a different engine model.

Here is what airlines are doing, divided by the model of the aircraft:

A350-1000

Cathay Pacific identified 15 aircraft that required replacement of engine components and six have already been repaired, while the remaining nine will be fixed by Saturday (Sep 7). It did not specify which models were being repaired.

Japan Airlines (JAL), which has five new A350-1000s, said it had conducted three engine inspections by Tuesday and found them to be safe. The two remaining planes were to be checked on Wednesday.

Qatar Airways said the issue had no impact on its 24 A350-1000 aircraft and it would continue to monitor any developments.

British Airways, which has 18 A350-1000s, and Virgin Atlantic, which operates 12, were not immediately available for comment.

A350-900

A spokesperson for JAL said the Tokyo-based carrier was also inspecting its A350-900 aircraft as a precaution and no problems had been found so far.

Air China, a major A350-900 operator, will perform general engine checks, reported Caixin, a Chinese business and economics publication.

Singapore Airlines, which has a fleet of 63 A350-900 planes, said it was inspecting the engines on its aircraft but there was no impact on flights.

Taiwan’s Starlux, which operates six A350-900, said it had contacted Rolls-Royce “out of caution” and was awaiting an official reply.

Air France and Lufthansa Group, which also have A350-900s, told Reuters they were in touch with Rolls-Royce and Airbus and were monitoring the situation closely.

Delta Air Lines, which has 28 A350-900s, and Thai Airways, which has 23 of them, were not immediately available for comment. REUTERS