Asia’s third largest carrier has launched an urgent investigation into the terrifying incident, which took place over the South China Sea as the Airbus A330-300 headed for Shanghai.
There were 182 passengers and 12 crew on board the aircraft, which “encountered bad weather at 39,000 feet (11.9km) about three-and-a-half hours after departure” from Singapore on May 23, the airline confirmed in a statement.
“Both engines experienced a temporary loss of power and the pilots followed operational procedures to restore normal operation of the engines. The flight continued to Shanghai and touched down uneventfully at 10.56pm local time.”
The airline said no abnormalities had been found during inspection and testing of the plane’s two Rolls-Royce engines in Shanghai. “We are reviewing the incident with Rolls-Royce and Airbus,” said the airline.
Flight tracking website Flightradar24 reported on Twitter that the flight had “lost power on both engines and 13,000 feet before power returned.” It later reported that power had been lost as the Airbus flew through a “huge storm” off China’s southern coast.
