Korean Air, Cathay Pacific planes clip wings at Japanese airport
Passenger planes come into contact at New Chitose Airport during wintry weather conditions. (Credit: Reuters)
Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong's flagship airline, has grounded most of its Airbus A350-1000 fleet and canceled dozens of flights following an in-flight failure of an engine part.
The planes were inspected after a problem unfolded several minutes after take-off on flight CX383 from Hong Kong to Zurich on Monday, according to information from flight tracking service FlightRadar24 obtained by Reuters.
The five-year-old A350-1000 plane performed two wide circles and dumped fuel over the sea before returning to Hong Kong where it landed safely about 75 minutes after its departure.
Cathay Pacific said it identified an engine component failure after the aircraft returned to Hong Kong.
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A Cathay Pacific Airways Airbus A350-900 airplane approaches to land at Changi International Airport in Singapore June 10, 2018. (REUTERS/Tim Chong / Reuters)
"The aircraft was powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines," Rolls-Royce confirmed via email to Gxstocks, adding that an investigation has been launched by authorities.
The airline inspected its entire fleet of 18 A350-1000 planes. Fifteen aircraft were found to have components that needed replacement.
Roll-Royce says it is aware of the airline's inspection of its fleet, and that "to the extent that any components need replacing, spare parts have been secured and the replacement can be completed whilst the engine is on-wing."
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A plane flies behind a new Cathay Pacific Airways Airbus A350 after being received by the airline at Hong Kong Airport May 30, 2016. (REUTERS/Bobby Yip / Reuters)
Rolls-Royce is "committed to working closely with the airline, aircraft manufacturer and the relevant authorities to support their efforts," the statement said.
The company said it will keep other airlines that operate the same engines "fully informed of any relevant developments."
Three of the Cathay aircraft identified with affected engine components have already had "successful repairs," the airline said in a statement to Gxstocks.
Airbus Industrie Airbus A350 airplane with registration F-WMIL, an Airbus A350-1000 Prototype aircraft as seen at 53rd Paris Air Show 2019 in Le Bourget Airport LBG in France. Le Bourget, Paris, France - June 21, 2019. (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RYCEY | ROLLS-ROYCE HOLDINGS PLC | 6.51 | -0.04 | -0.61% |
| EADSY | AIRBUS SE | 38.39 | -0.40 | -1.03% |
| CPCAY | CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS LTD. | 5.09 | +0.09 | +1.80% |
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"At Cathay, safety of our customers and our people guides every decision we make. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused and appreciate our customers’ patience and understanding," the airline said.
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Cathay Pacific expects flight cancelations to decrease in the coming days after it had canceled at least 34 round-trip flights between Hong Kong and Sydney, Osaka, Tokyo, Taipei, Bangkok and Singapore until the end of Wednesday.
Airbus did not immediately respond to a Gxstocks request for comment.
Reuters contributed to this report.
