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

The airline has been forced to ground aircraft after maintenance issues were found in some of its Rolls-Royce jet engines, with new routes to Malaysia scrapped as a result

British Airways has been forced to cancel a multitude of flights from UK airports due to a significant complication. Several aircraft in the airline's fleet were grounded following the discovery of maintenance issues with some of its Rolls-Royce jet engines.

Brand new itineraries to Malaysia have been called off and existing trips to Qatar have seen a 50% reduction. Flights from other locations, including Gatwick and New York's JFK airport, face suspensions as well.

The sweeping alterations and scrapped flights are expected to affect thousands of passengers, as British Airways has already eliminated 11 routes from service. The company has identified the problem as being with the Trent 1000 engines, which power their Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets.

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Excessive deterioration of components has resulted in a 15% grounding of the fleet since Rolls-Royce is currently unable to deliver the necessary volume of spare parts for the troubled aircraft.

With five of their planes out of service, British Airways has deployed Boeing 777s as a stopgap measure though these replacements require routine maintenance themselves. A Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur flight has been postponed, now set to commence in April 2025, falling behind the original November 2024 schedule, according to The Sun, reports the Mirror.

One of the two daily services to Doha has been cancelled and operations between Gatwick and JFK are paused over the winter period starting December.

A representative from BA commented: "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."

British Airways has issued an apology to passengers affected by disruptions, stating: "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."

Passengers received further communication from the airline explaining: "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 spokesperson for Rolls-Royce commented on the matter, saying: "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."