Virgin Atlantic has just announced the cancellation of several routes due to an ongoing plane shortage. News of these route cancellations comes on the heels of a similar announcement made by British Airways for the same reason. Is this the “new normal” in international travel?
Virgin Atlantic Cancels Routes
The Independent is reporting that in addition to delaying the return of flights to Tel Aviv until the end of March of next year, Virgin Atlantic said that it will halt the start of flights to Accra, Ghana, next summer.
Virgin Atlantic stated that its staff is “working closely with [our] partners at Rolls-Royce on solutions to minimize disruption,” acknowledging the “difficult decision” to postpone some services.
The culprit of these cancellations, according to the outlet, is a supply chain disruption. As airlines battle with parts shortages for the Trent 1000 engine, which powers long-haul Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, flight cancellations are predicted to rise. Virgin Atlantic and British Airways (BA) are the carriers most impacted.
Experts in the field caution that these supply chain interruptions are a reflection of more serious issues in aircraft manufacturing that are unlikely to be promptly fixed.
Workforce shortages and global supply chain bottlenecks may continue to impact flights for years, according to Nick Cunningham, an aerospace and defense analyst at Agency Partners, who spoke to the outlet. Due to problems with the Trent 1000 engines that are installed in their aircraft, both carriers have already started to cancel more long-haul trips.
“It’s a very deep and abiding issue that’s going to take a long time to fix, because it’s going to take a long time to train up enough people, and then you need to hang on to them,” Cunningham said. “That starts with training kids at college. So that gives you an idea of the time scale involved. It’s going to take years.”
British Airways Recently Did the Same Thing
Shortly before Virgin Atlantic announced that its flight routes were being canceled, British Airways took similar steps. As was previously reported, all flights between New York and London’s Gatwick Airport have been suspended by British Airways until 2025.
The second-busiest airport in the United Kingdom, Gatwick, will stop operating flights to New York from Dec. 12, 2024, to March 25, 2025. According to The Standard, delays in Rolls-Royce’s delivery of the Trent 1000 engines, which are installed in British Airways’ 787 Dreamliner aircraft, have resulted in the cancellation of about 103 transatlantic flights.
A representative for British Airways told The Standard, “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.”
The statement concludes, “We’ve apologized 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.”
Despite this bit of news, in September, British Airways declared that it would be operating a record-breaking number of flights to North America in the summer of 2025. In the summer of 2025, the aircraft will depart London for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, providing over 400 weekly direct flights during its busiest weeks.
