(Yicai) Sept. 11 -- The fire that broke out on Air China’s A320 new engine option plane while landing in Singapore was due to a mechanical engine failure, according to China’s flag carrier.

After a preliminary analysis, Air China concluded that the fire on the CA403 flight from Chengdu to Singapore was caused by a failure of the jet’s engine, the Beijing-based company said today on Weibo. The incident is now under further investigation, it added.

The 146 passengers and nine crew members aboard Air China’s Airbus A320neo performed a successful emergency evacuation at the Singapore Changi Airport after smoke began to spread inside the cabin right before landing, Air China announced yesterday.

On the same day, Changi Airport said on X that flight CA403 declared emergency and requested priority landing after reporting smoke in the forward cargo hold and lavatory. The plane performed a successful landing and emergency evacuation at around 4.15 p.m. yesterday on Runway 3, which will be temporarily closed for investigation, the airport added.

The aircraft involved in the accident is a 4.8-year-old A320neo assembled at Airbus’ Tianjin factory. It has two Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines.

Since 2017, there have been several incidents involving the A320 neo family, including engine in-flight shut-down and rejected take-off (RTO). Some international airlines have grounded their A320neo.

In China, a total of 11 airlines including Air China, China Southern Airline and Juneo Airlines, currently operate more than 200 A320neo family aircraft equipped with this kind of engines. 

Last year, Airbus received orders for 292 A320neo aircraft from Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines, with the latter placing its first order for 40 A320neo jets.

Editor: Futura Costaglione