Cathay Pacific Restores Airbus A350 Operations

By Lisa Barrington and Joanna Plucinska
(Reuters) – Cathay Pacific Airways announced it will resume operations of all Airbus A350s by Saturday after completing repairs on engine fuel lines. Meanwhile, other airlines await guidance from Rolls-Royce on potential inspections.

Following an engine part failure that forced a Cathay A350-1000 to dump fuel and return to Hong Kong, 15 aircraft were identified for repairs. As a result, Cathay canceled 45 round trips, mostly within Asia.

Out of 48 A350s, six have been repaired and returned to service, while the remaining nine are expected to be operational by Saturday.

Alex McGowan, Cathay’s Chief Operations and Service Delivery Officer, emphasized this was the first instance of such a failure in any A350 globally. The airline operates different Rolls-Royce engines on its A350-900 and A350-1000 models but did not disclose which specific models were affected.

The incident involved a fuel system leak that led to a brief engine fire on a Zurich-bound A350-1000, which was quickly extinguished, allowing the aircraft to safely return to Hong Kong shortly after takeoff.

There’s currently no indication that this incident will prompt significant regulatory scrutiny for the A350 fleet.

No Official Mandate for Inspections

Rolls-Royce has not mandated fleet-wide inspections, leading airlines to take varied approaches. Japan Airlines, operating five A350-1000s, is conducting its own inspections, finding three planes safe so far. Qatar Airways reported no impact on its A350-1000s and continues to monitor the situation.

Other airlines, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines, and Air China, are in contact with Rolls-Royce for guidance and conducting precautionary checks.

The incident led to a drop in Rolls-Royce shares, but they rebounded as concerns about global implications diminished, with shares down only 0.1% on Wednesday at 0824 GMT.