Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways announced on Tuesday that it had conducted a thorough inspection of its entire Airbus A350 fleet following an in-flight failure of a component in an engine manufactured by British company Rolls-Royce. The incident occurred on flight CX383 from Hong Kong to Zurich on Monday, as reported by FlightRadar24. Shortly after takeoff, the five-year-old A350-1000 aircraft executed two wide circles and jettisoned fuel over the sea before safely returning to Hong Kong approximately 75 minutes after departure. Cathay Pacific confirmed an engine component failure upon the aircraft's return.
The airline has not disclosed which specific component failed, but it marks the first such failure on any A350 aircraft globally. An insider informed Reuters that the issue involved a fuel nozzle within a XWB-97 engine, the Rolls-Royce model employed on the A350-1000. The Airbus A350, a twin-aisle long-haul aircraft capable of carrying 300 to 480 passengers, is available in two models: the A350-900 and the larger A350-1000, both exclusively powered by Rolls-Royce engines.
The A350-1000 and the A350 freighter utilize Trent XWB-97 engines, while the more common A350-900 employs Trent XWB-84 engines. The incident affected one of Cathay Pacific's 18 A350-1000 planes, leading to the identification of 15 aircraft requiring engine component replacements, with three already repaired. Rolls-Royce stated that replacements could occur with the engine in situ and pledged close collaboration with Cathay Pacific, Airbus, and investigating authorities.
Globally, there are 88 A350-1000 jets in operation, with Qatar Airways leading in ownership with 24 planes, followed by British Airways and Cathay Pacific with 18 each. There are 520 A350-900s in service worldwide. It remains unclear if other airlines are inspecting their engines. Jefferies reported that 234 XWB-97 engines had been delivered to customers by the end of June. Cathay Pacific has canceled at least 34 round-trip flights between Hong Kong and various Asian cities until the end of Wednesday, though long-haul services are expected to remain unaffected.
Japan Airlines, with five A350-1000s, has sought additional information from Rolls-Royce without halting A350 flights. Taiwan's China Airlines, operating 15 A350-900s, stated its fleet is unaffected as it does not use the implicated engines. Qatar Airways confirmed no impact on its A350-1000s and continues to monitor the situation.
