How an engine fire warning forced Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific to ground its A350 fleet

An engine fire warning on a Zurich-bound Cathay Pacific Airways flight was the cause of the Hong Kong flag carrier’s decision to ground its Airbus A350 fleet, with the move snowballing into scrutiny by the aviation industry, the Post has learned.

According to sources and internal documents obtained by the Post on Wednesday, multiple fuel lines in the right engine were deformed, leading to a fuel leakage that caused the fire.

An expert said deformed fuel lines posed an engine fire hazard, which would force the engine to shut down and mean the aircraft could only run on one engine.

But he added that the existing mechanism was sufficient to address the risk caused by an engine fire and the resulting single-engine operation.

Cathay Pacific confirmed the cause of the problem involved multiple engine fuel lines that needed to be replaced, but had stopped short of elaborating on the exact issue.