British Airways has suspended all flights to Abu Dhabi from Heathrow, causing more disruption for travellers and families.
Trips are scrapped due to delays in Rolls-Royce delivering their Trent 1000 engines fitted to BA’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
Passengers booked on flights due to take off from the west London airport between March 30 to October 25 next year will be forced to fly via Doha and Dubai, or from London Gatwick.
It comes just a few months after the airline relaunched routes to the popular UEA capital for the first time since the pandemic.
A BA spokesman said: “We’re disappointed that we’ve had to make further 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 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 for their travel plans.
“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.”
In October, BA announced it had cancelled all flights between New York and London Gatwick due to delays in their Trent 1000 engine deliveries from Rolls-Royce, starting in December.
Flyers looking to go to Abu Dhabi directly have the option of rebooking with Etihad or Qatar Airways, two of BA’s partners.
A Rolls-Royce spokesman said: “This is due to the current challenging industry wide supply chain constraints. We continue to work with all our customers to minimise the impact of the limited availability of spares parts. All of the companies in our industry are suffering from this.
“The Trent 1000 is an important engine for our customers and our business. Its reliability is proven, with over 20 million in service flying hours since its entry into service in 2011.
“We have been taking decisive action and moving quickly to prioritise the resources needed to reduce the impact created by the current industry wide supply chain constraints, it’s the highest priority for our Civil Aerospace division.
“Over the last 12 months we’ve introduced a number of initiatives to reduce the impact on our customers. Our Trent 1000 Task Force has been working at pace to deliver these improvements, drawing on our world-class engineering and technology capability. This Task Force brings together people from across our operations, supply chain, engineering, technology, safety and planning teams.
“In addition, our first stage Durability Enhancement package for the Trent 1000 is in the final stages of certification. This is part of the £1bn we are investing in our products. It will make our engine highly competitive and will more than double engine time on wing.”
