First The Airbus A380s & Now The Boeing 787s: British Airways Grounds Some Dreamliners Due To Engine Part Shortage

Oct 19, 2024

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British Airways has said in an internal memo to staff seen by the Financial Times (FT) that supply chain concerns are delaying deliveries of spare parts to repair Trent 1000 engines on the Boeing 787 fleet, causing cancelations.

It began with the superjumbos, and now, it’s the turn of the Boeing 787s. British Airways’ continued operational struggles over this summer have made things quite challenging. As we had reported earlier last month, the Airbus A380s faced noteworthy problems in their new post-COVID environment, leading to cancelations and delays across the network.

This was a challenge, particularly given the size of the jets, with no other comparable-capacity jet available in the British Airways fleet that could fill in when a spare aircraft was needed. Now, the problems have shifted towards the smaller widebodies as well.

In an internal memo to staff two British Airways executives warned that cancelations were to be expected as a result of 787 engine issues related to late spare part deliveries. The airline planned to ground some of its planes over the days that followed, with some of the impact now clear from disruption on 787-operated routes.

This follows a string of operational difficulties the carrier has faced in recent months. René de Groot, Chief Operating Officer at British Airways and Andy Best, Chief Technical Officer, described this summer as having been “difficult” due to “external challenges” the company has faced.

The memo, seen by the Financial Times at the end of September following air traffic control delays due to poor weather conditions, indicated that disruption was to continue on 787 operations over the ten days that followed. They said that a “number of cancellations” would have to be made as a result of “continued…delays to the delivery of engines and parts from Rolls-Royce.” The airline said it was working with the manufacturer to find a solution.

In a statement to Simple Flying, a Rolls-Royce spokesperson responded with the following:

“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.”

Some of the routes that have seen disruption due to 787 groundings include the carrier’s connections between London Heathrow (LHR) and Baltimore, Shanghai and Dubai to name a few, according to Flightradar24. While it is not confirmed that cancelations on these routes are directly related to the airline’s 787 woes, they are significant enough to suggest a correlation. In particular, we found the following cancelations over the period from September 20 to date:

*likely weather-related

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Between October 1 and October 5, BA107 to DXB was operated by the carrier’s 777s instead. They will take over once again from October 11. In a statement to Simple Flying, the company confirmed the disruption:

"We’re disappointed that we’ve had to make a number of changes to our schedule as we continue to experience delays to the delivery of engines and parts from Rolls-Royce – particularly in relation to the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines fitted to our 787 aircraft. We've apologised to our customers 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."

British Airways issues statement on disruption

In a statement to Simple Flying, the company confirmed the disrup...

BA operates a total of 40 Boeing 787s, distributed across all three variants of the type as follows per ch-aviation data:

Variant

Total number

Number inactive

787-8

8

4

787-9

16

2

787-10

8

2

There are a total of eight examples listed as inactive, all undergoing maintenance. In other words, 20% of the fleet is not in service. The most affected variant is the smaller -8, which are configured with 214 seats. One of the examples, G-ZBJA, has just 204 seats as it has a denser premium cabin offering.

Rolls-Royce has been embattled by problems with its Trent 1000 engines. Symbolically, the engine issues have been the cause of a nearly seven-month grounding of an Air Tanzania 787. It had also resulted in several flight cancelations at Air New Zealand, which suspended its Auckland (AKL) to Chicago (ORD) route at the end of March citing engine reliability problems.

In February, RR said it remained committed to solving the durablity issues, but noted part shortages due to supply chain challenges would continue to plague through till 2026.

More recently, at the Routes World conference in Bahrain that took place over the last few days, Gulf Air’s CEO Jeffrey Goh admitted to The National that Trent 1000 problems had also forced it to frequently ground its planes. Goh said:

“Rolls-Royce doesn't have a solution for its Trent 1000 engines, which means there has been frequent grounding of aircraft. We are not the only airline. Rolls-Royce has to expedite a solution.”

A lack of spare parts was also the cause for BA’s Airbus A380 issues over this summer. As we had reported last month, the carrier was unable to operate its full A380 schedule and was turning to other aircraft to fill in or was canceling flights outright. Washington Dulles topped the list as one of the most impacted destinations, while Dallas (DFW) and San Francisco (SFO) also felt the consequences, albeit to a lesser extent

In a statement to Simple Flying at the time, the company blamed supply chain issues impacting spare part deliveries. Storage concerns and a lack of pilots are also understood to have played a part.

This is not to say that British Airways’ financial performance has taken a hit. In fact, the company is continuing to outpace its European competitors, given strong demand on its core transatlantic markets and relatively limited exposure to industry-wide issues such as the closure of Russian airspace and a downturn in Europe-China demand. In fact, as Lufthansa closes reservations for its Frankfurt to Beijing route and Chinese carriers climb to higher market shares, British Airways’ parent company, the International Airlines Group, stands strong. While BA axed flights from LHR to Beijing Daxing, it still flies to Shanghai.

Virgin Atlantic will completely exit China this winter, while British Airways is axing its Beijing route, leaving only Shanghai.

According to a report by the Financial Times, the group—which includes carriers such as Aer Lingus and Iberia—has outpaced other European carriers. Even Ryanair has been unable to match the group’s share price performance.

What of the impact, then, of worsening service reliability?

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I suspect BA are now regretting off-loading their Boeing 747-400 fleet so quickly, as they were a well-proven airframe/engine combination and a large number of them had just gone through a cabin refresh with new seats and updated Panasonic IFE system just prior to the mass dumping of staff and aircraft during COVID. They could have taken a more measured approach and parked-up a number of their B747-400s on a care-and-maintenance basis and returned them to service when things picked up. Lufthansa did just that bringing 8 of their B747-400s back into service.

Yes especcially since that now they only have 16 777-300ER and 18 A350-1000 in that range of capacity and because of the 777x delays they are now probably running at a capacity lower than ideal

Well put. LH is now the largest remaining passenger 747 operator as most of the remaining 747's left in service as a whole of the entire program are freighter's with very limited pax one's except the 747-8 whilst the 3 operators (LH, Air China and Korean Air) continue using them

They should have also kept a couple of their 767-300ER's in storage as well for unexpected events such as this. They were also absolute workhorses and built to last, just like the 744's were. RB211 engines were well known for their impeccable reliability and durability.

BA for one reason or another spends a lot of time apologizing to its customers

Firstly, BA should never have disposed of all their B747's. Keeping half a dozen would have been advantageous for such emergencies.

And secondly, firing airline crew and trying to rehire them on woeful contracts has come back to bite BA in the derriere.

No sympathy for BA.

RR need to get a grip on the Trent issues !! Airlines have had all sorts of issues with these engines, and as a result passengers have been inconvenienced. At the same time, BA should never have got rid of all their proven 747 aircraft so quickly, until they were sure the Trent issues were sorted - they could have seen this coming.

Yes, getting rid of their older aircraft during the pandemic I understand but getting rid of them completely. Yes, a bad mistake. American Airlines did the same thing they got rid of their airbus widebody‘s and now that the 787‘s are not being delivered it would have been economically better to have kept those Airbus widebody‘s.

RR and the 787 just can't seem to catch a break.

787 aircraft with GE engines seem to be working out just fine.

It's why BA had enough and chose GE on the latest order

I am planning another trip to Ireland. Based on past experience I am looking forward to flying

Aer Lingus again. It's a great airline!

I believe there's 4 747s sat in Teurel Spain still, why not reactivate those others have. Not forgetting the seriously aging 777 200 fleet.

The difference being BA actually sold off all their Boeing 747-436, rather than just parking them up. There's also the problem they got rid of virtually all of the Boeing 747 crews and engineers when they off-loaded thousands of staff during COVID.

Armchair hindsight experts….. real insight… thx for your brilliance…..😵‍💫🤡😵‍💫

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