News / Cathay Pacific set to resume full A350 operations by Saturday

© Huy Thoai |

Cathay Pacific has discovered that 15 engines on its A350 fleet have components which need replacing – and it has already replaced three.

The remaining aircraft will be out of service until the repairs have been made, the carrier said today.

Yesterday, following a take-off from Hong Kong to Zurich, engine component failure forced the aircraft to return to its hub, triggering Cathay to inspect all its A350s.

Cathay said today: “Our engineering team thoroughly inspected our fleet of operational A350 aircraft within 24 hours.

“We expect that all affected aircraft will resume operations by Saturday (7 September).

“For today, there will be no further cancellations beyond those already announced. All impacted customers have been informed and provided with alternative travel options.”

Tomorrow will see 10 additional return flights cancelled, it added but long-haul services should not be affected. About 40 flights were cancelled yesterday.

A350s use Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines. A source told Reuters that the problem was a fuel nozzle inside a XWB-97 engine, used on the A350-1000.

Cathay added that it had “immediately brought this issue to the attention of the aircraft and engine manufacturers as well as our regulators. As a precautionary measure, a fleet-wide inspection of our A350 aircraft was initiated immediately.”

Fleet data shows that other operators include Singapore Airlines, which has 60 A350-900s – with different engines – but Qatar Airways, IAG, Virgin Atlantic and Etihad operate the A350-1000. Some 88 A350-1000s are thought to be operating worldwide currently.