Cathay Pacific has canceled 24 flights and expects more to follow after discovering a problem with the Rolls Royce engines on over a dozen of its Airbus A350 jets.
Rolls Royce said it would inform other airlines of any further developments. The same engine type is used on 88 aircraft around the world, according to ch-aviation data.
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific said Monday that it began inspecting all 48 of its A350 jets after an inflight incident.
According to data from Flightradar24, one of Cathay’s jets was about 15 minutes into a flight from Hong Kong to Zurich early Monday morning when it turned back around.
The airline said that upon inspection, it “identified an engine component failure” on the A350 in question.
As a result, Cathay Pacific said it inspected all 48 of its Airbus A350 jets within 24 hours. It found that 15 of them needed engine components replaced.
The airline added that 24 flights have been canceled so far, 10 more are expected to be canceled on Wednesday, and potentially more up to Saturday.
Rolls Royce’s share price dropped as much as 5.7% on Monday but rebounded about 4% when the London Stock Exchange opened Tuesday morning.
“As well as providing support and guidance to Cathay Pacific, Rolls-Royce will also keep other airlines that operate Trent XWB-97 engines fully informed of any relevant developments as appropriate,” the manufacturer said in a statement.
It added that replacing the component can occur while the engine is still on the wing, reducing maintenance times.
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Rolls Royce’s Trent XWB-97 is the sole engine choice for the A350-1000, the largest version of the widebody jet that can carry up to 480 passengers. The A350-900 uses a different Rolls Royce engine.
According to ch-aviation data, Cathay Pacific is the joint-second top operator of the A350-1000, with 18 such jets. British Airways also has 18, while Qatar Airways has 24. Other operators include Etihad Airways, Japan Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic.
Last November, Rolls Royce defended the Trent XWB-97 in the face of criticism from Emirates President Tim Clark.
Cathay Pacific, one of just 10 airlines to be rated five stars by Skytrax, said it has “fully complied with all maintenance requirements of the engine manufacturer and stringent maintenance procedures are in place to ensure that our fleet is always operated safely.”
“This component was the first of its type to suffer such failure on any A350 aircraft worldwide,” it added.
“At Cathay, safety of our customers and our people guides every decision we make. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused and appreciate our customers’ patience and understanding.”
Monday’s inflight incident is being investigated by authorities in Hong Kong.
