Cathay Pacific says 15 Airbus A350 aircraft will need engine repairs after a engine fire forced a flight to divert back to Hong Kong.

Cathay Pacific is cancelling over 60 flights through Saturday, September 7, 2024, after identifying 15 Airbus A350 aircraft needing engine repairs.

The airline announced the cancellations on their website after an engine fire forced a flight to return to Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) on Monday, September 2, 2024.

Grounding to Affect Asian Flights, With No Impact on Long Haul Routes

Reuters reports the flight that caused the inspections was traveling from Hong Kong to Zurich, with the engine incident happening around an hour into the flight. According to sources speaking to the news organization, a fuel system leak may have caused the engine fire in one of the two Rolls-Royce powerplants. The pilots were able to quickly control it with a fire bottle and returned the A350-1000 to Hong Kong without further incident.

Afterwards, Cathay Pacific said they started inspections as they “immediately brought this issue to the attention of the aircraft and engine manufacturers as well as our regulators.” Once completed, the airline says a total of 15 aircraft were identified as needing engine repairs. Cathay Pacific says three have been successfully fixed, with the remaining 12 expected to be done by Saturday, September 7.

Numerous inter-Asia flights will be affected by the A350s going out of service, but the disruption may be short lived. The destinations with the most cancellations to and from Hong Kong include Singapore, Bangkok, and Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT).

Without going into further detail, Cathay Pacific told Reuters the issue is unique in that it was the “first of its type to suffer such failure on any A350 aircraft worldwide.” Other airlines have not stopped flying the A350, although Japan Airlines told the news organization they have reached out to Airbus and engine manufacturer Rolls Royce to learn more about what happened.

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