British Airways slashes flights from UK airports over major issue

Hundreds of flights have been dropped or suspended from British Airways' timetable after a major issue was discovered in some of its planes, it's been reported.

A number of aircraft have been grounded due to a maintenance issue with some of the Rolls-Royce jet engines. This has resulted in some routes being scrapped, namely ones to Malaysia, while the number of flights to Qatar has been cut in half, says the Mirror.

The problem also means that services to and from major airports such as Gatwick and JFK in New York have been suspended.

This is set to impact thousands of travellers, with a total of 11 routes already having been scrapped, The Sun reports. It's understood that the issue is wear and tear in Trent 1000 engines, which are used in their Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets.

15 per cent of British Airways' fleet has been grounded as it's reported that Rolls-Royce has so far been unable to supply enough replacement parts. The airline says that it is not the only one that has been affected.

A new Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur route had been due to launch in November 2024 but has now been pushed back to April 2025. One of two daily flights to Doha has been dropped and winter flights are suspended between Gatwick and JFK from December.

A spokesperson for British Airways said: "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.

"We've apologised 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. 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."

A Rolls-Royce spokesman said: "We continue to work with British Airways and all of our customers to minimise 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."