JAL completed inspection of the engines on its five Airbus A350-1000 aircraft on September 4, 2024, and did not find any faults. The airline conducted the checks following a Cathay Pacific Airways A350-1000 incident that happened on September 2.
One of the Cathay Pacific aircraft’s Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines experienced brief fire after take-off from Hong Kong bound for Zurich as flight CX383. The crew was able to extinguish the fire quickly and return to Hong Kong. According to a report by Reuters, the problem appeared to have been caused by a leak in a fuel system.
While Rolls-Royce has not asked operators of aircraft with the affected engine type to conduct additional checks, some airlines decided to inspect their engines as a precautionary measure. Rolls-Royce said it “will also keep other airlines that operate Trent XWB-97 engines fully informed of any relevant developments as appropriate.”
JAL currently operates a fleet of 15 A350-900s on domestic flights and five A350-1000s on international flights with more of both on order. The airline only inspected the larger A350-1000s first since the smaller A350-900 uses a different type of engine, the Trent XWB-84. On September 5, 2024, it also completed inspection of all A350-900s.
UPDATE 2024/09/06: Added updated information about A350-900 inspections.
