British Airways axes hundreds of flights from UK airports after being hit with major issue

British Airways has scrapped hundreds of flights after issues with 15% of their fleet's engines, as delays are made to planned flight routes while others are suspended until next year

British Airways has axed hundreds of flights from UK airports after being hit with a major issue.

Aircraft under the airline's branch were grounded after maintenance issues were found in some of its Rolls-Royce jet engines. New routes to Malaysia have been scrapped while the number of flights to Qatar have been halved. Services to and from other routes, such as Gatwick and JFK in New York, are also suspended.

The route changes and axed flights are set to impact thousands of flyers, with the airline already scrapping 11 routes. British Airways has said the issue is with Trent 1000 engines, which are used on their fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets.

Excessive wear and tear on the engine parts has seen 15% of the fleet grounded as Rolls-Royce has been unable to supply enough replacement parts for the affected planes. With five planes of their fleet grounded, British Airways has since used Boeing 777s to pick up the slack but they too are in need of repairs every so often.

A Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur route is set to be delayed and will now launch in April 2025 rather than the initial plan for November 2024, The Sun reported. One of two daily flights to Doha has been scrapped and flights between Gatwick and JFK have been suspended for winter from December.

A BA spokesperson 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 message sent to those affected passengers from British Airways reads: "Unfortunately, Rolls-Royce, our engine supplier for our fleet of Boeing 787 aircraft, is experiencing challenges. We’re not the only airline experiencing this issue and are doing all we can to work with Rolls-Royce to resolve the situation."

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.”