Nation

Malaysia Airlines A350s to continue flying despite Cathay Pacific groundings

SEPANG: Transport Minister Anthony Loke said Malaysia Airlines' Airbus A350 aircraft will operate as usual despite Cathay Pacific grounding its own fleet.

This, he said, was as the Malaysia Airlines aircraft are fitted with different engines from those used by Cathay Pacific.

"I spoke to Malaysia Airlines this morning. They said that they've checked the engines, and the ones used here are different from those in Cathay Pacific.

"They are also in touch with Airbus, so if any action is needed, they will certainly take it. But for now, operations will continue as usual," he told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2.

Cathay Pacific Airways yesterday said it had started inspecting all its Airbus A350 jets after the in-flight failure of an engine component.

According to Flightradar24 data, the problem apparently unfolded several minutes after take-off as flight CX383 initially headed out over the sea, south of Hong Kong.

Instead of immediately turning north for the roughly 12-hour journey to Zurich, the aircraft performed two wide circles before returning to Hong Kong where it landed safely about 75 minutes after take-off, according to the tracking data.

According to Flightradar24 data, the diverted aircraft is an A350-1000, the larger of two models of twin-engined A350s.

These are powered by the XWB-97, Rolls Royce's' largest civil jet engine.

Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines' operates the Airbus A350-900, a smaller version of the model, which runs on the Rolls Royce Trent XWB-84 engines.

Most Popular
Related Article
Says Stories