Thai Continues Operation of Airbus A350 Fleet Despite Cathay Pacific's Grounding

[Georgealbert]

 

 

File picture for reference only, courtesy of Thai Airways.

 

Thai Airways International Public Co., Ltd. has confirmed, on September 3, that it will continue operating its Airbus A350 fleet, despite recent reports that Cathay Pacific, the flag carrier of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, has temporarily grounded its entire fleet of 48 Airbus A350 aircraft. Cathay Pacific's decision followed the detection of an engine component failure in one of their planes, using a Rolls-Royce manufactured engine, which malfunctioned after takeoff

 

Cathy Pacific are inspecting all 48 of its Airbus A350 planes as a precaution, and said  in a statement "Thus far we have identified a number of the same engine components that need to be replaced, spare parts have been secured and repair work is underway. Each aircraft is undergoing a rigorous inspection. Upon completion, the aircraft cleared for operation will return to service, while those identified with technical issues will undergo further repair and maintenance work," 

 

 

Mr. Chai Iamsiri, Chief Executive Officer of Thai Airways, stated that the airline has no plans to suspend the use of its Airbus A350 fleet, which comprises 23 aircraft. He reassured that Thai Airways’ maintenance division conducts thorough inspections of all aircraft before each flight, adhering to stringent safety standards.

 

Currently, no abnormalities or issues have been identified in Thai Airways' Airbus A350 aircraft. Mr. Chai emphasised that the airline is closely monitoring the situation and will take appropriate action if the engine manufacturer or relevant authorities notify them of any detected abnormalities or defects.

 

Mr. Chai further explained that maintenance procedures vary between airlines. Thai Airways remains committed to rigorous safety checks and regular maintenance of its aircraft. The airline has yet to receive detailed information regarding the specific cause of the engine component failure identified by Cathay Pacific. Thai Airways will continue to operate its Airbus A350 aircraft while maintaining its high safety standards, ensuring that all flights are conducted safely and reliably.

 

-- 2024-09-04

 

 

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[JoePai]

adhering to stringent safety standards

 

Phew that's a relief  

[steve187]

Thai air have A350-900, which have a different engine to the effected Cathy Pacific A350-1000

[Deserted]

Profit over safety.

[retarius]

Well I'm glad I don't fly Thai

[isaanistical]

45 minutes ago, steve187 said:

Thai air have A350-900, which have a different engine to the effected Cathy Pacific A350-1000

Thanks - I was about to point out the same. And as of yesterday afternoon, Cathay said of the 15 affected aircraft (of 45 on the fleet), 3 were already fixed. "We expect that all affected aircraft will resume operations by Saturday (7 September).," said press statement.

 

Such panics! Surely Boeing have a hand in this? Airbus no doubt fans the flames every time Boeing has a problem (ie almost every week), so I guess Boeing has been returning the compliment this week.

[isaanistical]

9 minutes ago, retarius said:

Well I'm glad I don't fly Thai

Me too, but for much more rational reasons.

[impulse]

It will be interesting when they reveal which engine component failed, and whether it was a design flaw, a supply chain (counterfeit parts?) problem, or some other issue.

 

[Georgealbert]

34 minutes ago, isaanistical said:

Thanks - I was about to point out the same. And as of yesterday afternoon, Cathay said of the 15 affected aircraft (of 45 on the fleet), 3 were already fixed.

 

Such panics! Surely Boeing have a hand in this? Airbus no doubt fans the flames every time Boeing has a problem (ie almost every week), so I guess Boeing has been returning the compliment this week.

 

1 hour ago, steve187 said:

Thai air have A350-900, which have a different engine to the effected Cathy Pacific A350-1000

 

The issue is that details of the component that failed has not been made public, so it is unknown is that component is common to all XWB engines, both the 84 and 97 models, used in the Airbus A350.

 

Singapore Airlines have a different approach and said it "is inspecting the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-84 engines that power our Airbus A350-900 fleet."

 

 

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Cathy Pacific are inspecting all 48 of its Airbus A350 planes as a precaution, and said  in a statement "Thus far we have identified a number of the same engine components that need to be replaced, spare parts have been secured and repair work is underway. Each aircraft is undergoing a rigorous inspection. Upon completion, the aircraft cleared for operation will return to service, while those identified with technical issues will undergo further repair and maintenance work," 

 

 

Mr. Chai Iamsiri, Chief Executive Officer of Thai Airways, stated that the airline has no plans to suspend the use of its Airbus A350 fleet, which comprises 23 aircraft. He reassured that Thai Airways’ maintenance division conducts thorough inspections of all aircraft before each flight, adhering to stringent safety standards.

The difference between two countries/airlines.

Which one do you trust?

[tomazbodner]

1 hour ago, Georgealbert said:

 

 

The issue is that details of the component that failed has not been made public, so it is unknown is that component is common to all XWB engines, both the 84 and 97 models, used in the Airbus A350.

 

Singapore Airlines have a different approach and said it "is inspecting the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-84 engines that power our Airbus A350-900 fleet."

 

 

Surely a better PR approach from the side of SQ.

 

Otherwise Qatar has a major objection to A350 fleet to the point they turned to Boeing's new 777 generation in protest, and that is possibly far more serious concern over the materials that are chipping... A350 is made of composites, and they've discovered degradation during repainting. Airbus states that's a cosmetic issue, Qatar disagrees. I wonder why we don't hear of this from B787, I would have thought they'd both be using same composites?

[Ben Zioner]

Rolls Royce engines appear to be more and more problematic. There was that uncontained failure on one of the early A380s, only saved by the amazing skill of two Quanta crews working together.

[john donson]

thai will do something if one of them crashes?  what is 50k per death x 200, right...

[John Drake]

Let'em roll.

[Georgealbert]

An update on the Cathy Pacific flight.

 

The problem on the flight unfolded several minutes after take-off on flight CX383 from Hong Kong to Zurich on September 2, and  sources familiar with the matter reported it was a leak in the fuel system that appeared to have caused a brief engine fire that was quickly extinguished by the crew of the Zurich bound jet.

 

The leak was in a system designed to inject fuel to the XWB-97 engine, the Rolls-Royce model used on the A350-1000. That system comprises a pipe that feeds fuel from an entry point or manifold to a nozzle that sprays fuel into the combustion chamber, the hot inner core of the engine.

 

 

This is a different engine to that used on the Thai Airways A350s and there are no immediate signs this incident will trigger significant regulatory action involving all A350s.

 

Seems that most airlines, like Thai Airways have decided to take no action, unless flying the A350-1000s.

[Watawattana]

https://hongkongfp.com/2024/09/04/hong-kongs-cathay-pacific-races-to-replace-faulty-engine-part-in-grounded-airbus-a350-aircraft/

 

https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/4/220121/Cathay-scraps-more-flights-with-A350-fleet-to-fully-resume-operations-by-Saturday

 

Here are links to the latest info issued on Hong Kong news media web sites.  Seems a professional response by Cathay to what could have been a very dangerous issue on that Zurich flight.  Especially as they've found other engines with the same issue so saving many pilots, cabin crew and passengers from having brown trousers.

 

I'm sure Rolls Royce is all over this issue too, and they'll be checking to see if the smaller version of this engine is at any risk whatsoever.

[KannikaP]

5 hours ago, isaanistical said:

Thanks - I was about to point out the same. And as of yesterday afternoon, Cathay said of the 15 affected aircraft (of 45 on the fleet), 3 were already fixed. "We expect that all affected aircraft will resume operations by Saturday (7 September).," said press statement.

 

Such panics! Surely Boeing have a hand in this? Airbus no doubt fans the flames every time Boeing has a problem (ie almost every week), so I guess Boeing has been returning the compliment this week.

Is it not problems with R Royce as opposed to Boeing?

[MarkBR]

9 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

 

 

File picture for reference only, courtesy of Thai Airways.

 

Thai Airways International Public Co., Ltd. has confirmed, on September 3, that it will continue operating its Airbus A350 fleet, despite recent reports that Cathay Pacific, the flag carrier of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, has temporarily grounded its entire fleet of 48 Airbus A350 aircraft. Cathay Pacific's decision followed the detection of an engine component failure in one of their planes, using a Rolls-Royce manufactured engine, which malfunctioned after takeoff

 

Cathy Pacific are inspecting all 48 of its Airbus A350 planes as a precaution, and said  in a statement "Thus far we have identified a number of the same engine components that need to be replaced, spare parts have been secured and repair work is underway. Each aircraft is undergoing a rigorous inspection. Upon completion, the aircraft cleared for operation will return to service, while those identified with technical issues will undergo further repair and maintenance work," 

 

 

Mr. Chai Iamsiri, Chief Executive Officer of Thai Airways, stated that the airline has no plans to suspend the use of its Airbus A350 fleet, which comprises 23 aircraft. He reassured that Thai Airways’ maintenance division conducts thorough inspections of all aircraft before each flight, adhering to stringent safety standards.

 

Currently, no abnormalities or issues have been identified in Thai Airways' Airbus A350 aircraft. Mr. Chai emphasised that the airline is closely monitoring the situation and will take appropriate action if the engine manufacturer or relevant authorities notify them of any detected abnormalities or defects.

 

Mr. Chai further explained that maintenance procedures vary between airlines. Thai Airways remains committed to rigorous safety checks and regular maintenance of its aircraft. The airline has yet to receive detailed information regarding the specific cause of the engine component failure identified by Cathay Pacific. Thai Airways will continue to operate its Airbus A350 aircraft while maintaining its high safety standards, ensuring that all flights are conducted safely and reliably.

 

-- 2024-09-04

 

 

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Glad I will not be flying in the near future.

[isaanistical]

3 hours ago, KannikaP said:

Is it not problems with R Royce as opposed to Boeing?

yes, and note the RR share price crash on the news (despite the 1000 being a small fraction of the Trent output). But media don't notice details like that. Or many AN readers, by some of the comments above.

Your comment is correct and mirrors the way the A350 angle overtakes any RR angle in popular press; my suggestio  is that this timeBoeing is fuelling it instead of Airbus as in (eg) the 737 sagas.

[Maybole]

It would appear to be a faulty fuel line which is a "bought in" item made by a specialist manufacturer and fitted by RR to the engine. I suspect a small batch of the item have a fault and all were fitted to engines for Cathay Pacific