HK lifts ban on Garuda A330 flights

HK lifts ban on Garuda A330 flights

HONG KONG (Reuter): Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Department said
yesterday it had lifted a ban imposed on May 26 on flights
operated by Garuda Indonesia using Airbus A330 aircraft.

"The Director of Civil Aviation stated that he had received an
assurance that the mandatory modifications called for by the U.K.
Civil Aviation Authority to the lubrication system on the gearbox
of the Trent 700 engine had been incorporated on all Garuda A330
aircraft," the authority said in a statement.

Concerns about the reliability of Rolls-Royce Trent 700
engines prompted the Civil Aviation Authority to urge the
Indonesian flag carrier last month to suspend all flights to and
from Hong Kong using A330 aircraft.

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd and Hong Kong Dragon
Airlines Ltd (Dragonair) grounded their entire fleets of A330s on
May 24 after three inflight shutdowns of Trent 700 engines on
Cathay and a fourth on Dragonair.

Both of the territory's carriers resumed full service with
their A330s on June 10 after Rolls-Royce rectified the problem,
which was traced to insufficient lubrication of a bearing in the
engine's step-aside gearbox.

Garuda said at the time of the Cathay Pacific and Dragonair
suspensions that it would continue to fly its six A330s but would
use other aircraft to fly into Hong Kong.

Garuda, Cathay Pacific and Dragonair are the only three
airlines to use the A330 fitted with Trent 700 engines.