Engine troubles under scrutiny

What are described as “ongoing issues” with Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines on the Boeing B787 came to prominence last week with reports British Airways and others were having to substitute aircraft from other companies on some Dreamliner flights to fill the capacity gap.

The story surfaced earlier this year with reports Rolls-Royce had discovered technical problems with a “small number” of its Package B Trent 1000s. This followed an alert for the Package C engines revealed in March.

Matters came to a head with reports in the Telegraph and elsewhere last week of passengers booked to fly to Cairo with BA “will find themselves boarding not one of the most advanced aircraft but … a plane belonging to a Belgian budget airline”.

The Telegraph said BA “is continuing to suffer from engine issues on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner”, and so had been forced to wet-lease an aircraft and crew from Air Belgium, with just four Airbus A340s to its name, all more than 10 years old.

BA said it was offering passengers a range of options “in light of continuing issues with Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines which are affecting many airlines … In order to fly as many customers as possible on their original dates of travel, we have leased an aircraft from Air Belgium.”

www.rolls-royce.com

www.britishairways.com

www.airbelgium.com

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