The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has ordered inspection of Airbus A350-1000 engines worldwide following an incident with a Cathay Pacific aircraft earlier this week.

EASA mandates inspections

A few days ago, Simple Flying reported that one of Cathay Pacific’s Airbus A350-1000s had suffered an incident. This led to the aircraft returning to Hong Kong and the airline canceling several flights in order to perform inspections of its A350s, including the -900 which it determined was not affected. Now, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has ordered inspections.

Cathay Pacific Airbus A350-1000 Nose

Photo: Airbus

According to a Reuters report, EASA confirmed that a hose in the fuel system failed, causing a fire that the crew was able to tackle.

“This action is a precautionary measure, based on the information received from the initial investigation of the recent Cathay Pacific serious incident and on the airline’s findings in its own subsequent inspections.” – Florian Guillermet, Executive Director, EASA

The directive was issued earlier today and EASA has given operators of the A350-100s between three and 30 days to perform inspections. The regulator will not require that any parts be removed, unless found to be damaged. Cathay Pacific, which had already started its own inspections, is excluded from the directive.

Investigation in Hong Kong

On Wednesday, sources close to the initial investigation said that a hose between a manifold and fuel injection nozzle was pierced. Now, investigators must determine whether this caused the fire or was a consequence of the incident. After this was revealed, Airbus was not planning on recommending worldwide inspections, but that changed.

The ultimate decision always lies in the hands of regulators, and although Airbus did not want to recommend every aircraft be inspected, this was ultimately the decision taken by EASA. Singapore Airlines and Japan Airlines had already begun their own precautionary inspections of all of their A350 aircraft.

Cathay Pacific completed its inspections and found that 15 of its A350s needed repairs to fuel lines. The airline added that by Saturday, all of its A350s would be returned to normal operations after canceling several flights on Tuesday.

Recent Airbus news

Since July, Airbus has received orders for 57 A330neos and another 60 options. This number is split among just four customers, Cathay Pacific being one of them. The Hong Kong-based airline ordered 30 of the latest-generation A330.

Cathay Pacific was the fifth-largest operator of the A330ceos, the first generation of A330s, and had already chosen to expand its fleet with A350s. But it was not until this year that the airline decided to add the A330neo to replace the older A330s and the aging Boeing 777s. The new order will make Cathay Pacific the second-largest operator of the neos, following Delta Air Lines.

Airbus A330neo

Currently, one of the biggest appeals for the A330neo over Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner family is the rate at which the Airbus aircraft can be delivered. As the European manufacturer has a smaller backlog, it can deliver the widebody approximately two years before Boeing could deliver Dreamliners. But additionally, Boeing has faced quality control issues and major challenges in 2024.

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