Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. may not be able to put all of its Airbus SE A350 aircraft back into service as quickly as hoped due a spare parts shortage, according to a person familiar with the matter. The carrier has taken several jets out of service in recent days after an engine component failure on one of its A350 aircraft forced a flight bound for Zurich to return to Hong Kong late Monday. That triggered a precautionary inspection of the engines on Cathay’s entire A350 fleet of 48 jets. Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc is the sole engine maker for the Airbus A350. Of the 48 planes that were inspected, 15 were found to need a new fuel hose component, the person said, declining to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly. The airline said on Wednesday that the faulty component was a fuel line, confirming an earlier Bloomberg report about checks around deformed or degraded lines. Engineers were asked to make specific checks to the flexible hoses supplying fuel to the engine for abnormalities, deformation, kinks, bulges or degradation. Cathay also Wednesday said an additional 22 flights will be cut from Thursday through Saturday, bringing the total number of canceled services to 90. There shouldn’t be any more flights disrupted, it added. The airline’s head of operations and service delivery, Alex McGowan, said it was a “significant situation for Cathay to manage as the engine component failure was the first of its type to occur on any A350 aircraft anywhere in the world.”<br/>
oneworld
Airbus and Rolls-Royce are preparing to brief airlines on the fallout from an engine emergency that prompted Cathay Pacific to review its fleet of A350s as pressure from airlines mounts for clarity, two people familiar with the matter said. Barring fresh evidence as investigators examine the fuel system of a jet forced to return to Hong Kong on Monday, manufacturers have been leaning against recommending worldwide checks but the final word lies with regulators, the people said. Briefings could go ahead as early as Thursday, they said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. Some carriers including Singapore Airlines and Japan Airlines had been conducting precautionary checks of their entire A350 fleets after Cathay Pacific said it had found 15 of its 48 A350 jets needed repairs to fuel lines. Airbus declined comment and referred queries to Hong Kong investigators, who could not be reached. Rolls-Royce and Cathay Pacific did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<br/>