Long-haul travel from the UK to Malaysia, New York and the Persian Gulf is set to get trickier this winter, following the announcement of three route cancellations by British Airways (BA). The reason? A lack of planes.
Doha, Kuala Lumpar and New York routes affected
The British flag carrier is giving long-notice of the cancellation of hundreds of long-haul flights over the coming months. The launch of a new route between Heathrow and Kuala Lumpur will not go ahead as planned until April 2025. In addition, one flight a day from Gatwick to New York is being temporarily wiped from the schedule, as well as one from Heathrow to Doha.
Passengers already booked on the cancelled routes are being offered alternative flights, such as through Malaysia Airlines, or to New York via Heathrow instead, or a full refund.
As well as the roughly 200,000 passengers who will be directly affected by the schedule changes, other flyers who would normally expect to book fairly easily onto the Doha, Kuala Lumpur, and New York routes that BA has identified as “alternatives” for its cancelled flights, will find that prices are higher and availability limited, due to the knock-on effect of transferring so many BA passengers, reports Simon Calder in the Independent.
Creating spare capacity
The schedule changes are, perhaps ironically, intended to build some spare aircraft capacity into BA’s operations so that other routes can continue to operate more smoothly. The company has been battling “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,” it said. The lack of parts means about 40 of its planes are currently grounded.
To make matters worse, a suite of “spare” Boeing 777 aircraft that have been used as stop gaps, now need to undergo routine maintenance. By cancelling the three routes, the carrier is freeing up three long-haul, wide-bodied aircraft every day across November, December, March and April.
Long-notice better than short
Though it described itself as “disappointed” by having to make the schedule changes, BA said it preferred the solution of long-notice cancellations, rather than a repetition of the wave of short-notice cancellations that passengers have been subjected to in recent years since the supply chain issues commenced.
“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,” the company said in a statement. While it recognised that, “Unfortunately, this is an issue affecting the whole aerospace industry,” the British firm said Rolls Royce had been made “aware of the impact” its engine delays were having.
