It might have recently been named one of the best airlines in the world, but British Airways isn’t immune to disruption. In fact, it’s just had to axe a bunch of long-haul flights over the coming months thanks to a shortage of planes. Not ideal.
Around 200,000 passengers are impacted by the cancellations. The flights affected are BA’s London Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur service, which is suspended until April 2025, London Heathrow to Doha and London Gatwick to New York, which will stay grounded from December to March.
The cancellations are down to expected delivery delays on aircraft engines and parts. More specifically, BA says that there are issues with the engines (Rolls-Royce Trent 1000) on its Boeing 787 vehicles. It’s waiting on spare parts from Rolls-Royce, which has pointed out that there are ongoing supply chain issues within the aviation industry.
BA said: ‘We’re disappointed that we’ve had to make further changes to our schedule as we continue to experience delays to the delivery of engines and parts from Rolls-Royce – particularly in relation to the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines fitted to our 787 aircraft
‘We’ve taken this action because we do not believe the issue will be solved quickly, and we want to offer our customers the certainty they deserve for their travel plans.
‘We continue to work closely with Rolls-Royce to ensure the company is aware of the impact its issues are having on our schedule and customers, and seek reassurance of a prompt and reliable solution.’
Major flight routes suspended
Several key services will be cut this winter, notably London Gatwick to New York JFK. But that isn’t all: the number of routes to Qatar has been halved, while a route that was supposed to kick off from Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur has been delayed until April 2025.
Why is British Airways cancelling flights?
The cancellations are due to expected delays on the delivery of aircraft engines and parts, and partly due to maintenance issues with Roll-Royce jet engines. The cancellations are taking place now – well in advance of scheduled departures – so that customers can make alternative travel arrangements. Theoretically, the number of short-notice cancellations should be reduced.
Eyes on the skies
How about some better news from the world of aviation, eh? This tiny northern English airport has just been crowned the best in the world (again), a bunch of new routes are running from Birmingham. There’s also been new affordable flights from Edinburgh to New York and the return of direct flights from the UK to this beautiful Caribbean island.
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