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Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific Airways has canceled 90 flights this week due to an engine component issue affecting its Airbus A350 fleet.
The firm initially canceled 48 flights on Tuesday and 20 on Wednesday before axing another 22 from Thursday to Saturday.
All the flights canceled this week are for regional destinations except for one long-haul flight on Monday, the airline said.
The canceled flights on Tuesday and Wednesday included routes between Hong Kong and cities such as Sydney, Osaka, Tokyo, Taipei, Bangkok, and Singapore.
The airline announced on Tuesday that all affected travelers had been notified and provided with alternative travel options.
To help passengers adjust their travel plans, Cathay Pacific waived ticket change fees, including charges for rebooking and rerouting.
The flight cancelations followed a component failure on Monday that led Cathay Pacific to ground and inspect its entire Airbus A350 fleet.
The inspection found that 15 planes required fuel line repairs, six of which have been fixed and cleared to operate as of Wednesday.
Cathay Pacific said no further flight cancelations were expected, and all affected aircraft are anticipated to resume operations by Saturday.
The cancelations have caused confusion and frustration among customers, many of whom had to make last-minute travel rearrangements.
Lim and his family from Singapore were looking forward to their five-day trip to Hong Kong when their Tuesday flight was delayed and then canceled.
They were later rebooked on a flight departing 12 hours later than originally scheduled.
“We’re very disappointed in the way Cathay has handled this issue,” Lim said. “Until now, no one has come to let us know the cause of the delays and cancelations. I had to google media reports to find out what happened. They don’t even have a statement on Facebook.”
Complaints about canceled flights have also surfaced on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, where users traveling from Hong Kong to Singapore and other cities voiced their frustration over disrupted travel plans.
