Airlines Conduct Safety Inspections on Airbus A350 Fleets

Multiple airlines have started precautionary inspections on their Airbus A350 fleets. This decision follows Cathay Pacific's discovery of 15 planes needing fuel line repairs after an engine failure. The airlines are checking both A350-1000 and A350-900 models, although no significant defects have been reported so far.

Several airlines are carrying out precautionary inspections on their Airbus A350 fleets after Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific found 15 planes that needed fuel line repairs following the in-flight failure of an engine part on Monday. The issue occurred on a five-year-old Airbus A350-1000, which uses Rolls-Royce's Trent XWB-97 engines, but carriers are also inspecting the more popular A350-900 aircraft which use a different engine model.

Cathay Pacific identified 15 A350-1000 aircraft that required replacement of engine components, with six already repaired and the remaining nine set to be fixed by Saturday. Japan Airlines (JAL) reported no defects in its newly inspected A350-1000s. Meanwhile, Qatar Airways confirmed the safety of its 24 A350-1000 aircraft, and British Airways and Virgin Atlantic were not immediately available for comment.

For the A350-900 fleet, Japan Airlines inspected 10 out of 15 aircraft with no issues. Air China and other major operators like Singapore Airlines, Starlux, Air France, and Lufthansa are also undertaking inspections. Delta Air Lines and Thai Airways reaffirmed their commitment to rigorous safety and reliability checks.

(With inputs from agencies.)