Cathay Uncovers More Empty Oxygen Bottles

Cathay Pacific said on Friday that it's told Civil Aviation officials and police of six instances in which portable oxygen bottles stored onboard its aircraft or those of Cathay Dragon have been found to be in a low pressure state.

It's the latest incident in which oxygen bottles were found to be empty or partially empty.

Cathay Pacific said the issues were all identified during routine inspections, with the most recent case being found on Cathay Pacific flight CX502 which departed from Hong

Kong to Osaka on September 16.

The airline said the shut-off valve on the portable oxygen bottle had been inadvertently opened by a member of cabin crew during a check.

It says all affected oxygen bottles were immediately re-charged and checked by engineers, and the safety of crew and passengers was not compromised.

The carrier says it's launched an internal investigation and suspended cabin crew of all the flights while the matter was being probed.

It said some have returned to work after being cleared.

Cathay Pacific says it's beefed up its internal regime to prevent a repetition.

“We have further strengthened our security measures by adding inflight and post-landing checks for all of our flights. We have communicated with our cabin crew and employees the importance of maintaining impeccable safety standards at all times," said Richard Howell, general manager, group safety and operational risk management for Cathay Pacific.

"There is no compromise in this area.”