How the Rolls-Royce jet engine chaos is putting holidays at risk
If you are thinking of travelling on British Airways or Virgin Atlantic in the coming months, you may not find it as easy as you might hope for: Britain’s arch-rival flag carriers are axing services left, right and centre. Services to New York, Miami, Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, Dallas, Tel Aviv, and Kuwait are being scrapped or scaled back. It is possible, however, that these changes might actually allow you to upgrade your experience.
British Airways and Virgin are suffering from the same problem. Their long-haul Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets are powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines and, even though more than two years have passed since Covid shredded global supply chains, the Derby-based air engine manufacturer is still finding it hard to source key components for this particular model. This means that both BA and Virgin cannot service the engines on their 787s or fix them fast when they go wrong, so are operating with a reduced fleet.
Passengers hate last-minute cancellations more than any of the other problems that seem to increasingly affect the aviation industry. So both BA and Virgin have announced that they are cutting services long in advance in many cases, to avoid having to disappoint customers later.
“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,” BA says. I was one of the first to find out how bad the problem is when my flight from London to Doha was axed at a few weeks’ notice.
On some routes, reduced competition caused by the cancellations means that fares are rising sharply. Virgin and BA compete intensely on the London to Cape Town route. You can get an economy return on BA flying before the end of March for less than £800. Try booking after April 1, when Virgin will no longer be flying that route, and you won’t have much change from £2,000. BA’s premium economy, business and first class fares have not, however, increased by such a large margin.
Both BA and Virgin have apologised to customers affected by the changes and have offered them the chance to book with other carriers, change their dates of travel or receive a refund. BA points out that anyone affected by the suspension of the Gatwick to New York service can travel on one of its eight daily flights to the Big Apple from Heathrow.
The rebooking offer could, in fact, work in travellers’ favour. BA suggests that customers heading for Doha will be rebooked on its OneWorld codeshare partner airline, Qatar Airways. It has 10 flights a day from London to Hamad International, eight from Heathrow and two from Gatwick.
At Heathrow, Qatar Airways operates from Terminal Four, which is the fastest to navigate because it’s the smallest. Qatar uses its Airbus A380 super-jumbo on the London to Doha route. On this double-decker clipper in the clouds, the bar for first-class and business-class passengers is the biggest in the sky and – joy – is often empty since many of Qatar Airways’ customers do not drink alcohol so prefer to stay in their seats and watch films.
Qatar Airways’ Q Suite is the best business-class suite of any carrier. It is vast and comfortable, with lots of storage space and charge points. Its high walls enable travellers to work or read with the windows open, without disturbing those who want to sleep or sit in the dark watching films. Snag a window seat if you want to work or read, or one of the centre pods if you want to sleep or enjoy dinner and a movie. If you are travelling with your partner, the Q Suites in the centre of the cabin can be configured to create a double bed.
Economy is still economy, but on Qatar Airways the food is better than most. If you are travelling economy class on Qatar’s A380, bag a seat in the tiny cabin at the rear of the upper deck: it’s the best economy cabin in the sky.
BA passengers travelling to Abu Dhabi will be rebooked on Etihad, the flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates. It has four flights a day from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi, two during the day and two overnight. British Airways would have offered a single flight, so you can now pick the time that suits you best. Also, like Qatar Airways, on the London to Abu Dhabi route, Etihad flies its Airbus A380, which offers showers for first class passengers and a bar for business class passengers.
Perhaps the best thing of all about travelling on Etihad is that economy class passengers can buy access to its lounges in Abu Dhabi airport: it’s £126 for four hours in the business class lounge and £170 in first class. That’s money well spent since the lounges offer daybeds, a spa, and à la carte dining with dishes including crab and lobster with grand cru classé burgundy and bordeaux wines.
BA passengers who wish to travel to Kuwait can travel on either Qatar Airways or Etihad, via Doha or Abu Dhabi. The only disadvantage of rebooking on Qatar Airways or Etihad is that neither carrier offers premium economy. Those booked in BA’s World Traveller Plus, as BA calls premium economy, will have to either downgrade to economy class or upgrade to business class. Virgin Atlantic does not recommend alternative airlines.
If the rebooking offer hasn’t won you over, there’s still some good news. BA has dumped the Trent 1000 engine for its latest order of Boeing 787s. At the Farnborough Airshow in July, International Airlines Group, BA’s parent company, announced it had chosen the US-made General Electric Aerospace GEnx engines for six new 787 aircraft that will take to the skies next year. Normal service will have resumed by then.
