Exclusive | Third Cathay Pacific Group oxygen tank found emptied before take-off from Hong Kong airport
- When the Airbus A330 arrived from Bali, its oxygen bottles were full
- By the time it was preparing for take-off to Kuala Lumpur the next morning, one of its canisters had been discharged. Police have been called in.
A third Cathay Pacific Group plane was found with an emptied oxygen bottle on Friday, prompting the airline to call in police and the aviation authority to investigate.
The latest discovery, during pre-departure cabin checks, involved one discharged oxygen bottle on a Cathay Dragon plane.
In the newest case an Airbus A330, registered B-LBI, arrived from Bali, Indonesia, and the post-arrival checks found all oxygen bottles were full. By the time it was readied to fly to Kuala Lumpur the next morning, one of the canisters had been discharged.
Cathay Dragon confirmed the bottles – which crew typically use to move around the cabin in the rare event of an emergency depressurisation – had been found depressurised.
“Cathay Dragon is taking the issue very seriously and has launched an internal investigation into the matter. We have also reported the matter to the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department and the police,” a company spokeswoman said.
