EASA Releases Airworthiness Directive to Rectify Safety Issues in Airbus A350 Lavatories

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an Airworthiness Directive (AD) to address a potentially unsafe condition related to lavatories on the Airbus A350.

EASA commented that “occurrences have been reported of finding corrosion on lavatory floor fittings at various locations on A350 aeroplanes”, adding that these could lead to lavatory module detachments. As a result, the safety agency claimed that cabin crew and/or passengers could sustain injuries, “possibly resulting in reduced evacuation capacity from the aeroplane in case of an emergency”.

The AD mandates airlines operating the Airbus A350 to conduct repetitive general visual inspections (GVI) of all lavatory floor fittings and, depending on the aircraft’s configuration and the results of GVIs, they should complete any corrective action(s). Airlines will also have to report the results of inspections to Airbus.

Carriers utilizing the Airbus A350 will have to carry out the GVIs before exceeding 36 months since the aircraft’s manufacturing date and 36 months since the last accomplishment of the manufacturer’s Maintenance Review Board Report task 254000-00001-01M, or within six months after the effective date of the directive, whichever occurs later.

If any discrepancy is detected, airlines will need to consult the Airbus Service Bulletin (SB) A350-25-P208, issued on January 31, 2023. Carriers will also have to report any findings to Airbus, even if no post-inspection corrective actions were required within 30 days after each GVI.

The AD is effective May 31, 2023, and is applicable to all Airbus A350-900 and A350-1000 models.

However, EASA noted that this directive “is considered to be an interim action,” which is why further corrective instructions could follow.

According to ch-aviation.com data, 534 Airbus A350 aircraft have been delivered to customers, while Airbus Orders & Deliveries data, valid as of April 30, 2023, shows that 530 aircraft of the type had been delivered to customers.

The latest delivery was an Airbus A350-900, registered as B-32DL, which was handed over to Air China on May 15, 2023, according to data from ch-aviation.com.