A Brussels Airlines A330 from Kinshasa to Brussels re-starts engine after failure

A Brussels Airlines Airbus A330-223 registered OO-SFU (MSN 324) was performing flight SN358 from Kinshasa (scheduled departure time 21:00, actual departure time 21:34) to Brussels, on 10 December 2018.

While flying at FL380 over Algeria, the left-hand PW4168 engine failed, prompting the crew to drift the aircraft down to FL270. The crew declared a PAN-PAN and considered a precautionary landing in Djerba (DTTJ).

The crew was then able to re-start the engine in-flight about 140nm east-southeast of Oued Irara (Algeria). It climbed back to FL380 and continued the flight to Brussels.

During approach, however, the other engine failed several times and relighted automatically. The pilots continued to Brussels for a safe landing about 3:15 hours later (scheduled arrival time on 11 December: 05:10, actual arrival time 05:46).

The airline is investigating the incident, suspecting fuel contamination at Kinshasa Airport. The Belgian aviation authorities also launched an investigation and have rated this incident as “serious“.

UPDATE: On 28 December, the aircraft successfully performed a test flight above The Netherlands. Brussels Airlines said that the problems were due to contaminated fuel.