Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific has temporarily grounded some of its A350 aircraft after a fleetwide inspection found an issue with engine components on 15 of its jets.
The flag carrier said that while it had already completed successful repairs on three of the planes, work on the remaining affected aircraft was expected to continue until 7 September, when all of the planes would go back into service.
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An issue had initially been flagged on Monday 2 September after a Cathay aircraft on a flight to Zurich was forced to return to Hong Kong mid-flight after dumping fuel over the sea, with subsequent inspections then discovering the engine component failure.
The airline said it has informed the aircraft and engine manufacturer of the issue, which it believed marked the first time the component affected had failed on any A350 aircraft worldwide.
The Airbus planes are operated with Trent XWB-97 and XWB-84 engines manufactured by Rolls-Royce, with the former model being the type used by the aircraft first affected by the issue.
Rolls-Royce said it was limited in the comments it could make given an investigation by the Hong Kong authorities, but it noted that the necessary repairs could be completed “on-wing” and said it would keep other Trent XWB-97 operators informed if they would need to take action.
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By GlobalDataWhile neither Cathay Pacific nor Rolls-Royce have confirmed which engine component was affected by the issue, some industry reports have pointed to a problem with fuel nozzle parts in the XWB-97 engines.
The component failure and necessary maintenance to address it has led to 34 return flight cancellations so far by Cathay Pacific, with more expected through to the end of the week, and cancellations could spread to other airlines if the issue is found on other aircraft.
Due to the quick nature of its repair, the issue is unlikely to have significant long-term impacts but will still be seen by some as the latest symptom of an industry hit by serious supply chain issues.
Multiple airlines such as Air New Zealand have highlighted supply chain troubles affecting their fleets in the last year and Airbus itself said engine shortages were partly to blame for its aircraft delivery delays in an update earlier this year.
