What is the problem with Cathay Pacific's A350 Rolls-Royce engines?

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific Airways said on Tuesday it had inspected its entire Airbus A350 fleet after a component on an engine made by British manufacturer Rolls-Royce failed during the flight.

What happened on the flight?

According to flight tracking service FlightRadar24, a problem occurred on Monday on flight CX383 from Hong Kong to Zurich a few minutes after takeoff.

The five-year-old A350-1000 aircraft flew two wide circles and dumped fuel over the sea before returning to Hong Kong, where it landed safely about 75 minutes after takeoff.

Cathay Pacific said it discovered a defect in an engine component after the aircraft returned to Hong Kong.

Why did the A350 engine failure occur?

Cathay Pacific has not disclosed which engine component failed, but the airline said it was the “first engine of its kind to experience such a failure on an A350 aircraft worldwide.”

A person familiar with the matter told Reuters the incident was a problem with a fuel nozzle inside an XWB-97 engine, the Rolls-Royce model used in the A350-1000.

How many A350 types are there?

The Airbus A350 is a long-range, twin-aisle aircraft that can carry between 300 and 480 passengers. It comes in two sizes: the A350-900 and the larger A350-1000, both of which are powered exclusively by Rolls-Royce engines.

Which engine is installed in the A350?

The A350-1000 and A350 freighter use Trent XWB-97 engines, Rolls-Royce's largest commercial jet engine.

The more popular A350-900 uses its Trent XWB-84 engines.

Are all A350 engines affected?

Cathay Pacific said the incident occurred on one of its 18 A350-1000 aircraft. Fifteen aircraft have now been identified as requiring engine component replacement, and three of them have already been repaired.

Rolls-Royce indicated on Tuesday that the replacement could be done while the engine was still on the wing. The company also said it would work closely with Cathay Pacific, Airbus and authorities investigating the incident. The engine maker did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reported fuel nozzle issue.

How many A350 aircraft could be affected?

According to the Swiss flight intelligence service ch-aviation, 88 A350-1000 jets are in service worldwide.

The six largest operators are Qatar Airways with 24 aircraft, British Airways with 18, Cathay Pacific with 18, Virgin Atlantic with 12 and Etihad Airways and Japan Airlines (JAL) with five each.

According to data from ch-aviation, there are 520 A350-900s in service worldwide.

It is unclear whether other airlines are also checking their engines.

Broker Jefferies said in a note to clients on Monday that 234 XWB-97 engines had been delivered to customers by the end of June.

Which Cathay Pacific flights were cancelled?

Cathay Pacific announced on Tuesday that at least 34 round-trip flights between Hong Kong and Sydney, Osaka, Tokyo, Taipei, Bangkok and Singapore had been cancelled by the end of Wednesday. Long-haul flights are unlikely to be affected, it said.

The airline's A350s also serve destinations in Europe and North America.

What are other airlines doing with A350?

Tokyo-based JAL, which has five A350-1000s, all less than a year old, said it had asked Rolls-Royce for more information and had not suspended its A350 flights in the meantime.

The Taiwanese airline China Airlines, which operates 15 A350-900 aircraft but none A350-1000, said that the affected engines were not used in its fleet and that its operations would therefore not be affected.

Qatar Airways said the issue had no impact on its A350-1000s and that the airline was continuing to monitor developments.

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