This winter is posing quite the challenge for London-based British Airways. By the end of the first quarter of 2025, British Airways will be pulling Bahrain and Kuwait from its schedule as it deals with Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engine issues on its Boeing 787 fleet. The carrier, according to a letter to staff seen by Head for Points, says that the two routes were are “currently not as viable as others.”

This latest move follows significant changes to other areas of its network in recent months. This began with issues with its A380 fleet, which meant service disruption on some of its core routes, including to Washington Dulles.

Bahrain and Kuwait suspended

The latest suspensions include two routes to the Middle East. The carrier is axing them as it does not believe its 787 engine issues “will be solved quickly,” according to a statement it sent Simple Flying at the time of publication. It reads:

“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 concerning 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.”

British Airways uses a 777-200ER for its flights to Bahrain, which it will need to provide standby capacity for flights elsewhere on its network that require a replacement plane. The London to Kuwait connection uses a mix of 787-8, -9, and -10 planes.

The two routes, Head for Points highlights, are not leisure-focused. Instead, they cater more to higher-paying premium/business customers, meaning less impact for consumers looking for a holiday getaway. HfP notes, though, that these cuts will lead to several redundancies at the company’s cabin crew base in Bahrain.

Recent suspensions

Its reasoning is nothing new. The same rhetoric was employed as the carrier pushed its Kuala Lumpur relaunch at the last minute. It once again blamed Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine issues for the disruption, noting however that it had managed to get the “vast majority” of its passengers rebooked onto one of its partner airlines.

This service cancelation followed disruption across its network, including on flights to Baltimore (BWI), Shanghai (PVG), and Delhi (DEL).

But it is not just the 787 that is plaguing the BA network. Instead, its flagship A380 fleet has also been playing up. A number of cancelations took place as a result of reliability issues following long-term storage during COVID, a lack of replacement parts and aircraft, and finally, a lack of pilots.

Most recently, earlier this week it emerged that the carrier would be suspending its own A380-operated flights between London Heathrow (LHR) and Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) during next year’s summer season. Instead, partner American Airlines will introduce more flights on the route to cover the loss of capacity. According to HfP’s Rob Burgess, this is “partly due to the upcoming A380 refurbishment programme – not yet officially launched – which will take aircraft out of action.”

Third-quarter results impacted

Engine issues and A380 reliability problems have had an impact on the carrier’s third-quarter results, announced earlier today. CEO at British Airways, Sean Doyle, said the following:

“We’ve faced a challenging operating environment this summer, driven by air traffic control restrictions, adverse weather and engine supply delays. I want to thank our customers for putting their trust in us and for their understanding when delays to their journeys have occurred and our brilliant colleagues who work tirelessly every day to deliver for our customers.

We’re already working hard with our industry and government partners to improve resilience across the sector ahead of next summer.”

British Airways posted an operating profit of £830 million ($1 billion), with operations reaching up to 353 flights in a single day during the peak summer period. IAG noted that unit revenue at British Airways “was particularly strong”. Other highlights include:

• Load factor: reached 85.3% which is up 1.4% compared to the same period in 2023
• Capacity: up 4.6% which contributed to an improvement of £310 million ($400 million) in operating profit before exceptional items
• Passengers carried: 12,852,000 during the three months ended September 30, up 6%