British Airways Pulls Hundreds of Flights Due to Boeing 787 Engine Issues

Unable to obtain spare parts for aircraft engines, British Airways (BA) has grounded some of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners and pulled hundreds of future flights on which tickets have already been sold from its winter schedule.

British Airways blamed the cancellations on delays in delivery of spare parts and replacement engines, specifically the Rolls Royce-manufactured Trent 1000 engines that power its forty 787 Dreamliners.

Grounded Boeing 787 Dreamliners

These delays have forced BA to ground five of its 787s. The carrier turned to on-standby Boeing 777 planes to continue operating its schedule, but now those aircraft need routine maintenance.

Photo: British Airways Boeing 787-8. Courtesy of Stuart Bailey / British Airways

Data from Flightradar24 reveals that the airline has canceled several long-haul flights at the eleventh hour in recent weeks. To preempt further disruption, BA has readjusted its winter schedule, axing hundreds of flights between now and April.

“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,” a spokesperson for BA said.

Disrupted Winter Schedule

The airline will cull its daily link between London Gatwick (LGA) and New York JFK and halve the frequency of its twice-daily flight from London Heathrow (LHR) to Doha (DOH).

The airline is also postponing its daily flight from London to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (KUL). Suspended during the pandemic, the flight was due to relaunch on November 10. It was set to allow BA passengers “to connect to a range of popular destinations across Southeast Asia and beyond” through an expanded codeshare partnership with Malaysia Airlines, encompassing 12 destinations across Southeast Asia and Australia.

Photo: British Airways Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Courtesy of Arkin Si / Unsplash.

The route to Kuala Lumpur will now get off the ground in April instead. The five-month delay will affect an estimated 200,000 passengers.

“We’ve apologized to those affected and are able to offer the vast majority a flight the same day with British Airways or one of our partner airlines,” the airline said.

Impact on Flight Routes

For passengers bound for New York, that likely means rebooking on one of BA’s ten daily departures to the city’s airports from its hub at London’s Heathrow (LHR): eight to JFK and two to Newark (EWR).

Travelers headed to Doha will find space on BA’s other daily departure to the city or one of its Oneworld partner Qatar Airways’ eight daily flights.

Photo: London Heathrow Airport. Courtesy of BAA Airports Limited.

BA’s codeshare partner Malaysia Airways will absorb passengers booked on the delayed Kuala Lumpur link with its twice-daily flight to London.

British Airways said it “continue[s] 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.”

Industry-wide Supply Chain Issue

A spokesperson for Rolls-Royce responded, “We continue to work with British Airways and all of our customers to minimize the impact of the limited availability of spares due to the current supply chain constraints. Unfortunately, this is an issue affecting the whole aerospace industry.”

Photo: Courtesy of Boeing Commercial Airplanes

The wave of cancellations is just the latest wobble from a legacy airline that has struggled with operational reliability in recent years. An analysis by the Financial Times found that cancellations and delays of BA flights to and from Heathrow have doubled since the pandemic.

In March, BA owner IAG unveiled a £7 billion ($9.1 billion) modernization program for the airline, hoping to boost its operational performance and refresh the brand.