Cathay cancels some A350 flights through 7 September
Following the inflight return involving Cathay Pacific flight CX383 to Zurich earlier this week, the airline identified an engine component failure in the A350-1000 aircraft in question.
Cathay’s A350-1000s are powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines, while the smaller A350-900s are equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-84 engines.
Cathay says it has fully complied with all maintenance requirements of the engine manufacturer and stringent maintenance procedures are in place to ensure that our fleet is always operated safely.
This component was the first of its type to suffer such failure on any A350 aircraft worldwide, the Hong Kong oneworld carrier said.
“We immediately brought this issue to the attention of the aircraft and engine manufacturers as well as our regulators. As a precautionary measure, we also proactively initiated a fleet-wide inspection of our 48 A350 aircraft. Thus far we have identified a number of the same engine components that need to be replaced, spare parts have been secured and repair work is underway,” Cathay said.
As a result, a number of aircraft will be out of service for several days through 7 September while this process is being completed and Cathay Pacific’s operating schedules will be affected.
In total, Cathay has identified 15 aircraft with affected engine components that require replacement and three have already gone through successful repairs.
The remaining aircraft will continue to be out of service until they have been repaired and cleared for operation. The carrier expects that all affected aircraft will resume operations by Saturday (7 September).
For today (3 September), there will be no further cancellations beyond those already announced. All impacted customers have been informed and provided with alternative travel options, the airline said.
Looking ahead to tomorrow (4 September), Cathay expects to cancel 10 additional regional return flights, while long-haul services should not be affected.
For the remaining cancellations up to Saturday (7 September), Cathay will provide further details by 1400 tomorrow.
Flights that were cancelled yesterday included services to Singapore and Sydney.
Today’s cancellations include flights to Bangkok, Singapore, Tokyo, Osaka and Taipei, while services cancelled tomorrow include Tokyo, Osaka, Taipei and Singapore.
