By Joanna Plucinska and Tim Hepher
(Reuters) – Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways said on Monday it has begun inspections of all its Airbus A350 jets after an engine part failed during the flight, sending shares of British engine supplier Rolls-Royce plummeting.
The airline said 24 return flights had been cancelled through Tuesday and that some aircraft would be out of service for several days while the process, which the company described as a precautionary measure, was completed.
An Airbus spokesman referred questions to the airline and Rolls-Royce. Rolls-Royce said it was aware of the incident and was working closely with Cathay, Airbus and the authorities conducting an investigation.
Shares in the company – the sole supplier of engines for the Airbus A350 family of long-haul jets – closed down more than 6%, pushing the European Defence and Aerospace Index down 2.8%
According to data from Flightradar24, the problem occurred minutes after take-off, when flight CX383 was initially flying over the sea south of Hong Kong.
Instead of turning directly north for the roughly 12-hour journey to Zurich, the plane made two large circles before returning to Hong Kong, where it landed safely about 75 minutes after takeoff, according to tracking data.
Cathay did not provide a detailed description of the faulty engine part, but said it was the first time in the world that such a defect had occurred on an A350 aircraft.
“To date, we have identified a number of the same engine components that require replacement. Spare parts have been secured and repair work is underway,” the report said.
According to an insider, the incident was related to a problem with a fuel nozzle, a part that injects fuel into the engine.
Experts say such problems are rare, but unless there is a deeper flaw, they usually cause fewer alarms than the failure of a major rotating component, such as a turbine blade. However, large-scale further inspections could be disruptive to airlines.
HONG KONG RESEARCH
Industry sources said the Hong Kong Air Accident Investigation Authority had quickly launched an investigation. The agency could not be reached for comment outside office hours.
Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch said it would support any investigation in Hong Kong.
According to data from Flightradar24, the diverted aircraft is an A350-1000, the larger of two models of twin-engine A350s. These are powered by the XWB-97, Rolls’ largest civilian jet engine.
Cathay operates 18 of the largest twin-engine Airbus aircraft as part of a mixed fleet of Airbus and Boeing jets.
According to Airbus data, it is one of the largest users of the A350-1000, alongside British Airways (which also operates 18), but it lags behind the largest operator, Qatar Airways.
There were no immediate reports of similar findings at other airlines. Other A350-1000 operators did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which is responsible for overseeing Airbus jets and has the authority to order inspections or repairs across the fleet, did not rule out action but said it would await the outcome of the investigation.
“We will closely monitor all information emerging from the technical investigation and, if necessary, make decisions on any measures at fleet level,” a spokesperson said.
In total, Cathay operates 48 A350 jets, including the smaller and widely used A350-900, which features another member of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine family: the XWB-84.
The airline said it was working with the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department and jet and engine manufacturers.
Cathay currently has around 100 aircraft on order, including freighters, narrow-body and wide-body aircraft, and has rights to purchase another 80.
(Additional reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; Editing by Alex Richardson, Christina Fincher and Tomasz Janowski)
