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.