Rolls-Royce ‘working closely’ with Cathay Pacific after engine part fails on flight

Rolls-Royce has said it is “working closely” with international airline Cathay Pacific after confirming that one of its engine parts failed, leading dozens of flights to be cancelled.

Hong Kong-based Cathay has axed nearly 40 flights within Asia this week amid an urgent inspection of its aircraft.

An engine problem arose shortly after a plane took off on Monday, forcing it to return to Hong Kong.

The company said its engineering team have “thoroughly inspected” its fleet of operational A350 aircraft within a day, and found 15 planes that need engine components replacing, with three already going through successful repairs.

Engineering giant Rolls-Royce confirmed on Tuesday that its Trent XWB-97 engines were powering the aircraft.

It said an investigation had been launched by authorities in Hong Kong and the firm was “committed to working closely with the airline, aircraft manufacturer and the relevant authorities to support their efforts”.

Shares in the London-listed engineer recovered after dropping as much as 6% on Monday following the news, and were rising by more than 3% on Tuesday.

Rolls-Royce said in a statement that it had secured spare parts for any components that need replacing.

It added that it was also keeping other airlines that operate its Trent XWB-97 engines “fully informed of any relevant developments as appropriate”.

Cathay said the fleet-wide inspection of its aircraft was initiated immediately as a “precautionary measure” after it identified the issues on Monday’s flight.

“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused and appreciate our customers’ patience and understanding,” the airline said.

It confirmed that no further cancellations will be announced and it expects all affected aircraft to resume operations by Saturday.