Airlines Inspect Airbus Jets Following Cathay Pacific Plane's Engine Issues

By Kimberley Kao

Singapore Airlines and Japan Airlines are inspecting their Airbus A350 fleets following Cathay Pacific's discovery of engine issues that resulted in dozens of flight cancellations.

Japan Airlines said in a statement that it was awaiting information from engine maker Rolls-Royce, and that it decided to start inspections of all five of its A350-1000 planes "as a precautionary measure." It added that inspections of three planes have been completed without any issues found.

The Japanese airline said it is also inspecting its A350-900 aircraft out of precaution, which have a different engine type, and said no problems have been discovered so far.

"We do not anticipate any flight delays or cancellations at this time," Japan Airlines said.

Similarly, Singapore Airlines is inspecting the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-84 engines that power its Airbus A350-900 fleet out of precaution, according to a spokesperson for the Singapore national carrier.

"Singapore Airlines is in contact with Airbus and Rolls-Royce on the ongoing issue with the Trent XWB engines," the spokesperson said, adding that there is currently no impact on flights being operated with the jets.

As of June 30, Singapore Airlines has 64 A350 planes in its fleet.

Airbus declined to comment, while engine maker Rolls-Royce didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The inspections come after Cathay Pacific discovered engine problems on one of its A350 jets during a flight to Switzerland on Monday. The airline has since canceled dozens of flights, as it checked and repaired its fleet of A350 aircraft.

Cathay Pacific said in an update Wednesday that it identified 15 jets that needed engine fuel line replacements, with six already repaired and cleared for operation. The remaining airplanes are expected to be repaired and resume operations by Saturday, the airline said.

Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific said it expects to cancel 11 additional regional return flights over Sept. 5 to Sept. 7, but doesn't anticipate any further cancellations beyond this.

In total, including those previously announced, the airline canceled 45 return flights.

"This was a significant situation for Cathay to manage as the engine component failure was the first of its type to occur on any A350 aircraft anywhere in the world," said Alex McGowan, chief operations and service delivery officer at Cathay Pacific.

As of the end of July, 612 Airbus A350 jets are in operation, according to the plane maker's website.

Write to Kimberley Kao at kimberley.kao@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 04, 2024 06:18 ET (10:18 GMT)

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