British Airways has decided to suspend flights between London Heathrow and Abu Dhabi for the summer 2025 schedule. The route was re-established in April 2024 after being suspended for more than three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was made due to supply chain issues related to the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines that power the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. British Airways decided to take this step because it does not believe that the problem with the delivery of engines and spare parts for the said engine from Rolls-Royce will be resolved soon, which would potentially affect the safety of its passengers’ planned trips.
In addition to the aforementioned suspension, the carrier was forced to introduce a number of other changes to the upcoming summer schedule due to aircraft capacity constraints. It is cancelling flights between London Heathrow and Dallas and Kuwait, reducing capacity between London and Doha and Qatar, delaying the launch of a flight to Kuala Lumpur and has cancelled flights between London Gatwick and New York from 12 December 2024 to 25 March 2025. It also intends to suspend a second daily flight from Heathrow to Miami, while two, instead of the previously planned three, daily flights will be operated between Heathrow and New Delhi. Some flights will also operate older Boeing 777 models instead of the previously planned Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
Other airlines whose Boeing 787 aircraft are powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines have also encountered reliability and durability problems with these engines, as well as a shortage of spare parts. As a result, they have had to ground their aircraft and adjust their networks and flight schedules. Rolls-Royce says that the shortage of parts, caused by supply chain challenges, will continue until 2026. They explain that the entire industry has faced supply chain problems in recent years due to increased demand for air travel as well as raw material shortages caused by geopolitical events. They are also working on developing an upgrade for the said engine type with the primary goal of improving durability and longevity, by reconstructing the high-pressure turbine blades.
According to data available on the airfleets.net portal, British Airways has 12 787-8 aircraft, 18 787-9 aircraft and 11 787-10 aircraft in its fleet. As a result, British Airways changed the supplier for the remaining 787-10 aircraft on order at the 2024 Farnborough Airshow, and they will have GEnx-1B engines from GE Aerospace, instead of the current Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines that are on the active 787 aircraft in their fleet.
