Hong Kong’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific has canceled dozens of flights as it conducts an inspection of its entire Airbus A350 fleet after finding engine problems affecting the plane.
The airline, one of the world’s largest users of the long-haul jet, said it identified an engine component failure on flight CX383 from Hong Kong to Zurich on Monday. The plane later returned to Hong Kong. “This component was the first of its type to suffer such failure on any A350 aircraft worldwide,” Cathay said in a statement sent to CNN. A thorough inspection of its 48-plane fleet revealed “a number of the same engine components that need to be replaced,” it added. It did not detail the nature of the engine issue. By Tuesday afternoon, the company said it had identified 15 aircraft with affected engine parts that require replacement. Three had been fixed, it said, adding that all affected aircraft will resume operations by Saturday.