Advertisement
Hong Kong protests
Hong KongPolitics

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.

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
The Cathay Dragon plane was parked at remote stand when its oxygen bottles were depressurised. Photo: Roy Issa
Danny Lee

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.

It comes after Cathay Pacific Airways’ Tuesday disclosure that it was investigating how two different Boeing 777 planes ended up carrying empty and partly empty oxygen bottles – 13 in total – when they arrived in Toronto from Hong Kong on August 17 and 18.
Advertisement

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.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x