SEOUL (Reuters) -Japan Airlines does not expect flight cancellations or delays as a result of inspections ordered by Europe’s air safety regulator on engines of Airbus A350-1000 jets, it said on Friday.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said on Thursday Trent XWB-97 engines made by Rolls-Royce should be checked after an engine fire during the flight of a Cathay Pacific jetliner.
Rolls-Royce said on Friday it was “confident in our ability to deliver on the inspection regime”.
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific cancelled a number of flights this week while it checked and repaired A350 engines after a Zurich-bound jet was forced to return to Hong Kong on Monday due to the engine problem, later traced to a fuel leak.
EASA gave airlines between three and 30 days to carry out visual checks and measurements on flexible fuel hose connections inside the A350-1000 engines. The smaller A350-900 variant is not subject to the order.
Japan Airlines (JAL) inspected its entire fleet of A350-1000 and A350-900 jets earlier this week, but said it would need to conduct additional inspections in accordance with the EASA directive and service instructions from Rolls-Royce.
“No issues were found on any aircraft,” JAL said in a statement.
Qatar Airways, which operates the largest number of A350-1000 jets, said on Friday it was carrying out inspections after it received the directives.
Etihad Airways, which has five A350-1000 jets, said it began inspecting engines proactively before the directive was issued and continues to do so in compliance with directive.
“Etihad has discovered no issues, nor experienced any similar events with the engine, so does not anticipate any impact on its operations,” it said in a statement.
Accident investigators in Hong Kong, where Cathay is based, are still investigating the incident.
Broker Jefferies said in a note to clients on Friday it considered the engine issue was unlikely to be widespread, and said no significant regulatory action had been taken.
“With the faulty part in question now confirmed as a fuel nozzle/hose, any work required on the engines, if found to be faulty, should be fairly limited and a quick fix … This implies only minor costs for Rolls-Royce,” it said.
(Reporting by Lisa Barrington, Maki Shiraki, Andrew Mills and Tim Hepher;Editing by David Goodman and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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