ROLLS-ROYCE aims to overcome a setback caused by a defect to one of its engines on a plane flown by Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific, after a recent strong recovery just last month.
The British engine-maker’s share price soared to record highs in August, after a turnaround in performance under chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic since he took the helm in early 2023.
However, the company has been hit by an engine defect on an Airbus A350 plane that led to the cancellation of dozens of Cathay Pacific flights this month.
Findings of a Hong Kong probe published on Thursday (Sep 19), found that the defect could have escalated into “extensive damage”.
Rolls-Royce said it continued “to work closely” with regulators “to support the ongoing investigation”.
Cathay Pacific briefly grounded its fleet of A350s for inspections and repairs after a Zurich-bound plane was forced to turn around and head back to the Chinese city on Sep 2.
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The inspections found that components on 15 of the 48 planes in Cathay’s fleet of A350s, powered by Rolls-Royce engines, had to be replaced.
Rolls-Royce – not to be confused with its former car division Rolls-Royce Motors – supplies engines to Airbus and Boeing, the world’s biggest aircraft manufacturers.
It has been hit by previous engine trouble this century. In 2010, one of its Trent 900 engines used to power an Airbus A380 superjumbo and flown by Qantas Airways, caught fire mid-flight.
The aircraft had to return to Singapore, where it landed with significant damage to one wing.
Rolls-Royce took full responsibility for the incident, paying £56 million (S$96 million) in compensation to the Australian airline, which had to ground its A380 fleet.
The British company, air-transport regulators and operators with A380s equipped with Trent 900 engines later either removed defective engines or made them compliant.
In 2019, Rolls-Royce encountered durability issues with its Trent 1000 engine when some parts began to wear quicker than expected, which forced the engine-maker to carry out costly repairs.
The fallout hit the group’s 2019 profits by around £1.4 billion, as it paid for customer disruption and repairs.
Four years ago, Rolls-Royce launched inspections on a “small number” of Trent XWB-84 engines used in Airbus A350 jets after discovering signs of “wear”.
Rolls-Royce employed 41,800 people in 2022 in nearly 50 countries, its website showed.
Last year, its CEO Erginbilgic decided to axe up to 2,500 jobs worldwide, or about 6 per cent of group staff in an effort to streamline the company.
In the second quarter, the company reported that operating profit almost doubled to more than £1.6 billion. AFP
