Europe's aviation safety regulator will require airlines to conduct a one-time fleet inspection of fuel hoses on some Airbus A350 aircraft.
The move, announced by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on Thursday, follows an in-flight engine fire that erupted on a Cathay Pacific flight on Sept. 1, shortly after takeoff from Hong Kong to Zurich. The aircraft was powered by a Rolls Royce Trent XWB engine.
The fire led Cathay Pacific to inspect engines on each of its 48 A350 planes, identifying 15 that needed replacement of engine fuel lines. The carrier expects to complete those replacements by Saturday and has canceled at total of 90 flights that had been scheduled between Sept. 2 and Sept. 7.
"This was a significant situation for Cathay to manage as the engine-component failure was the first of its type to occur on any A350 aircraft anywhere in the world," Cathay Pacific chief operations and service delivery officer Alex McGowan said in a prepared remark.
Cathay's A350s are powered by the XWB-97 variant of the Trent engine. Rolls-Royce said it is "committed to working closely with the airline, aircraft manufacturer and the relevant authorities to support their efforts."
EASA is requiring inspections only for A350-1000s powered by the XWB-97 engine -- 86 planes globally. Inspections need to take place over then next three to 30 days, depending on the individual engine history.
Airbus did not respond to a request for comment.
Cathay's findings have already led other Asian carriers to take precautionary action. Singapore Airlines said it is inspecting its fleet of 64 Airbus A350s, which are powered by a different Trent XWB variant called the XWB-84.
The inspections have not caused the airline to alter its flight schedule, the carrier noted.
Japan Airlines said it has inspected fuel lines on its five A350-1000s, finding no defects. The carrier is also inspecting its 15 A350-900s.
Delta is the only U.S. operator of the A350, with a fleet of 30 A350-900s. Those planes are powered by the XWB-84 variant. The FAA said there is no inspection requirement for Delta, the only A350 operator in the U.S., because Delta doesn't use the XWB-97 variant of the CWB engine.
"At this time, Delta teams continue to run our global operation with the high standard of care safety and reliability that we always do," the airline said Wednesday.
This report was updated on Sept. 5 to add details from the FAA and the European Union.