Malaysia Airlines discovers ‘potential problem’ with A350-900 engine

Malaysia Airlines said on Friday it had discovered a “potential problem” with the engine of an Airbus A350-900 in its fleet, but added that it had been resolved.

The issue comes after the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an emergency directive to airlines ordering mandatory inspections on A350-1000s powered by XWB-97 engines made by Rolls-Royce.

The checks were prompted by an “in-flight engine fire” on one of Cathay Pacific’s flights to Zurich, based in Hong Kong.

Malaysia Airlines’ fleet of A350-900 aircraft “recently underwent a precautionary inspection, during which a potential issue with the high-pressure fuel lines on one aircraft was identified,” the carrier said in a statement.

“This finding was quickly resolved and the aircraft was fully cleared to return to service under rigorous maintenance protocols,” he added.

On Friday, following the incident, EASA said extending its mandatory engine inspections to include the XWB-84 engines on Malaysia Airlines’ Airbus A350-900 was “not justified at this stage”.

The Cathay incident prompted other airlines in the region to conduct similar checks on their A350-900 and A350-1000 models, which are powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-84 and XWB-97 engines respectively.

EASA said on Thursday that Cathay’s A350-1000 plane suffered an engine failure due to a high-pressure fuel pipe failure.

He added that there was an “in-flight engine fire shortly after takeoff” which was “quickly detected and extinguished”.

EASA said the XWB-84 engines “are similar but differ in design and service history” from the XWB-97.

Airbus said Friday that the EASA directive “clearly limits these (checks) to the Trent XWB-97 engine and indicates that inspections on the Trent XWB-84 are not justified based on the information currently available.”

“I am sure we will discover more as the investigation progresses – and only EASA can communicate on this,” a spokesman for the European aircraft manufacturer told AFP.

Airbus’ troubles come as U.S. rival Boeing struggles to overcome concerns about safety and quality control issues in recent years.

– “Preventive inspection” –

According to EASA, there are 86 A350-1000 aircraft in service worldwide.

A Malaysia Airlines spokesperson told AFP the carrier has seven A350-900s powered by Trent XWB-84 engines, all of which have been inspected.

“Safety and reliability are at the heart of our operations, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring the highest standards of care for our passengers and crew,” the airline said in its statement.

Rolls-Royce announced on Thursday the launch of a “one-off preventive engine inspection programme” which could apply “to part of the A350 fleet”.

The first A350 was delivered to Qatar Airways in late 2014.

Since the end of production of the A380 jumbo, the A350 has been Airbus’ largest aircraft.

The largest version, the 1000, can carry nearly 500 passengers and travel more than 16,000 kilometers (nearly 10,000 miles) in a single hop.

This figure will be increased to almost 18,000 km in the “Sunrise” version ordered by the Australian airline Qantas to provide a direct flight between Sydney and London.

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