On a flight to Zurich Damaged fuel hose triggers engine fire on Airbus

A damaged fuel hose was apparently the cause of an engine fire on a Cathay Airbus A350. According to the European Aviation Safety Agency (Easa), the damage was probably caused by a cleaning process.

On September 2, an Airbus A350 that had taken off from Hong Kong for Zurich had to turn back and land after the engine incident. According to an investigation carried out by the Hong Kong Aviation Safety Authority (AAIA), fuel could have leaked through the damaged hose and caused a large-scale engine fire and "significant damage to the aircraft". In addition, five other fuel hoses on the aircraft were found to be severely damaged.

Following the incident, Hong Kong airline Cathay briefly took its entire A350 fleet out of service and had it inspected. Components from the British manufacturer Rolls Royce were then replaced on 15 of the 48 aircraft.

According to its own information, the EASA listed the engine types that could be affected by the problem with the fuel hose in an airworthiness directive: These are Rolls Royce engines installed in Airbus A350-900 and A350-1000 models.