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Operators of the Airbus A350-900 long-haul aircraft has received a directive from European aviation safety authorities over concerns about an engine explosion risk.

The European Aviation Safety Agency said airlines had to implement a software fix to prevent potential overheating of the hydraulic system and a risk of explosion.

They said that Airbus has already come up with a fix and the directive, which goes into effect Thursday, orders that it be implemented on all affected planes.

Airbus has delivered over 100 of the aircraft so far, which is flown by airlines including Lufthansa , Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways.

In the directive, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said: "In the A350 design, the hydraulic fluid cooling system is located in the fuel tanks.

"Recently, an overheat failure mode of the the A350 hydraulic Engine Driven Pump (EDP) has been found.

"Such EDP failure may cause a fast temperature rise of the hydraulic fluid.

"This condition, if not detected and corrected, combined with an inoperative Fuel Tank Inerting System (FTIS), could lead to an uncontrolled overheat of the hydraulic fluid, possibly resulting in ignition of the fuel-air mixture in the affected fuel tank."

An Airbus spokeswoman said: "Airbus has discovered an anomaly concerning A350’s hydraulic systems.

"Going forward, in line with the continued airworthiness process, to mitigate any risk to safe operation, Airbus’ experts are working short-term on an easy retrofit-able software fix to the monitoring and control system."