Cathay Pacific Airways canceled nearly all of its scheduled flights from Hong Kong to Singapore on Tuesday, along with numerous other services across Asia, after discovering a faulty engine component in some of its Airbus A350 aircraft.
According to the airline’s website, eight of Cathay’s nine scheduled flights on the Hong Kong-Singapore route were scrapped on Tuesday, September 3. The only flight still set to depart as of mid-morning was an afternoon connection using a Boeing 777.
Additionally, nearly half of Cathay’s flights on Tuesday from Hong Kong to Bangkok and those to Tokyo’s Narita airport were also canceled. Among the flights that remain operational, none are using A350 aircraft. Cathay reported a total of around 48 individual flights, including return segments, have been canceled.
The Hong Kong-based airline, one of the largest operators of the long-haul A350, identified the component failure following a plane’s return from a Zurich-bound flight on Monday. A subsequent inspection of the fleet uncovered that several of the same engine parts required replacement.
The Hong Kong-Singapore route is a flagship service for Cathay and serves as a vital link for regional connectivity, frequented daily by hundreds of business travelers and others. The airline did not disclose the specific fault detected. The affected engine is manufactured by Rolls-Royce, whose shares dropped by as much as 8.2% on Monday.
Cathay Pacific’s shares in Hong Kong fell by 0.4%.
