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What are airlines doing in reaction to Cathay Pacific's Plane A350 engine failure

A number of airline companies are performing precautionary inspections on their Airbus A350 fleets after Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific found 15 aircrafts that needed fuel line repairs following the inflight failure of an engine part.

The concern happened on a five-year-old Jet A350-1000, which utilizes Rolls-Royce's Trent XWB-97 engines, but some providers are also inspecting the more popular A350-900 airplane which use a various engine design.

The European Union Aviation Security Agency (EASA) on Thursday gave airlines between three and 1 month to perform visual checks and measurements on the fuel homes in A350-1000 engines. The A350-900 is not affected.

Here is what airlines are doing, divided by the design of the airplane:

A350-1000

Cathay Pacific, which has 48 A350 jets, determined 15 aircraft that required replacement of engine parts that were set to be completed by Saturday. It did not specify which designs were being repaired.

Japan Airlines (JAL), which has five new A350-1000s, said on Thursday it had actually inspected those engines and found no problems. It will do additional assessments on the airplane based on a Service Publication issued by Rolls-Royce.

Qatar Airways stated on Friday it was carrying out assessments of its 24 A350-1000s after it got a directive from EASA and Rolls-Royce.

UAE's Etihad Airways, which has five A350-1000s, stated it was inspecting engines across its A350 fleet and had so far not found problems.

British Airways, which has 18 A350-1000s, and Virgin Atlantic, which operates 12, have not discussed the scenario.

A350-900

A spokesperson for JAL stated the Tokyo-based provider had also performed voluntary evaluations of its A350-900 aircraft as a. precaution and no issues were discovered.

Air China, a significant A350-900 operator, will. carry out basic engine checks, reported Caixin, a Chinese. service and economics publication.

Singapore Airlines, which has a fleet of 63. A350-900 aircrafts, stated it was checking the engines on its. airplane however there was no influence on flights.

Delta Air Lines, which has 30 A350-900s, stated the. airline runs its global operation with the high requirement of. care for safety, dependability and care that we always do.

Thai Airways, which has 23 of them, said its. service technicians continually examine the scenario and make engine. checks frequently.

(source: Reuters)