Cathay Pacific has said it identified 15 Airbus A350 aircraft that need component replacements after a part failed on one of its Rolls-Royce engines minutes after takeoff from Hong Kong on Monday.
A second carrier, Singapore Airlines, said on Tuesday it was also inspecting the engines of its Airbus A350 aircraft “as a precautionary measure”.
Cathay Pacific said it expected to cancel 34 return flights through to Wednesday, when it would also provide details of any further service cuts for the rest of the week.
Cathay said it had inspected its fleet of 48 Rolls-Royce-powered A350s, and had identified 15 aircraft with engine components that needed to be replaced. Three had been repaired, and it expected all affected aircraft to resume flying by Saturday.
Rolls-Royce confirmed the affected aircraft was powered by its Trent XWB-97 engines, and said it was keeping other carriers informed. Authorities in Hong Kong have launched an investigation, and Rolls-Royce said it was also working closely with them and the aircraft manufacturer Airbus.
It is thought the problem involves a fuel nozzle inside the XWB-97 engine, the Rolls-Royce model used on the A350-1000, according to Reuters.
Unlike Cathay, Singapore Airlines said there had not been any impact so far on its schedule. A spokesperson for the company said: “As a precautionary measure, SIA is inspecting the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-84 engines that power our Airbus A350-900 fleet.”
The news of the engine failure drove shares in Rolls-Royce on the London Stock Exchange down 6.5% on Monday, the biggest faller on the FTSE 100 index. Its shares partly recovered on Tuesday, and were up by 3%, making the UK manufacturer the top FTSE riser.
Data from the flight-tracking service Flightradar24 showed other operators of the A350-1000 appeared to be operating as normal on Tuesday.
The top six operators are Qatar Airways with 24 planes, British Airways with 18, Cathay Pacific with 18, Virgin Atlantic with 12, and Etihad Airways and Japan Airlines with five each. A spokesperson for Qatar Airways said there has been “no impact on the operation of any Qatar Airways Airbus A350-1000s”, but added that “we are continuing to monitor any developments”. The other airlines were approached for comment.
Japan Airlines, whose fleet of A350-1000s are less than a year old, said it had asked Rolls-Royce for more information. “If the engine manufacturer takes any further action, we will respond accordingly,” a spokesperson said.
Cathay Pacific has not specified which engine component failed but the carrier said it was the “first of its type to suffer such failure on any A350 aircraft worldwide”.
Airbus said it was in contact with Rolls-Royce and Cathay Pacific and offering full technical support.
There are about 88 A350-1000 jets in operation worldwide, according to the Swiss intelligence provider ch-aviation.
