13 hours Ago By Rytis Beresnevičius
Over the past few months, British Airways had to adjust its long-haul network significantly as supply issues related to the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine continued to impact the airline, including the most recent adjustment of eliminating flights to Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Axing Abu Dhabi flights On December 17, British Airways updated its travel partners by informing them that between March 30, 2025, and October 25, 2025, with the dates coinciding with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) summer season, it will cancel its flights from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport (AUH). As a result, the airline suggested that customers would be rebooked onto an Etihad Airways flight to Abu Dhabi.
The local airline will offer 28 weekly flights during the March 2025 to October 2025 time period, while British Airways would have offered daily flights, according to data from Cirium’s Diio Mi airline planning system. Other alternatives include rebooking passengers on its flights from London-Heathrow to Dubai International Airport (DXB) – with British Airways scheduling three daily flights on the route – or on a Qatar Airways flight from Heathrow to Doha Hamad International Airport (DOH). The airline will suspend flights between LHR and AUH in the summer of 2025.
The Qatari carrier has scheduled 56 weekly flights between Heathrow and Doha-Hamad. The only exception will be in March 2025, when Qatar Airways will operate 49 weekly itineraries, according to Diio Mi data. As an alternative, customers can also be rebooked on the London Gatwick Airport (LGW) to Doha-Hamad route.
Qatar Airways is the only option on this route, with the airline operating the itinerary twice per day. Qatar Airways will now have up to nine daily Heathrow flights. Bahraini U-turn One of the canceled routes included flights to Bahrain International Airport (BAH).
However, on November 21, British Airways stated that it would reinstate flights between London-Heathrow and Bahrain, telling its travel partners that customers who had booked flights before November 7 could now move back onto a British Airways-operated itinerary. Initially, the British carrier canceled flights on the route on November 7, with the suspension being valid for the whole of 2025. The same announcement included the news that its flights to Kuwait International Airport (KWI) were also canceled.
Now, Cirium data showed that between March 2025 and October 2025, British Airways has planned three weekly flights to Bahrain, compared to the daily itineraries during the same period in 2024. Meanwhile, the British airline should operate flights to Kuwait between January 2025 and March 2025. During the latter month, it will reduce itineraries from daily to five per week before canceling the route up until at least November 2025.
Another route that was impacted by the cuts was the airline’s planned flights to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL), with British Airways postponing the launch of the route from November until April 2025. The British carrier will operate three flights per week during the upcoming summer season on the route, compared to 14 a year ago. Rolls-Royce issues Further changes were made on flights from Heathrow to Dallas-Fort/Worth International Airport (DFW) and Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL).
When the British carrier confirmed that it would end services to Dallas-Fort/Worth only during the upcoming summer season, it said it continued to experience delays in the delivery of engines and parts from Rolls-Royce , particularly for the Trent 1000s fitted on its Boeing 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.” On flights to Delhi, British Airways had planned to operate three daily flights on the route, increasing the number of weekly frequencies compared to the current double-daily itinerary , which will remain the case in 2025.
In July 2025 and August 2025, the airline has scheduled 11 weekly flights between London-Heathrow and Delhi. International Airlines Group ( IAG ) had already purchased the other engine variant for British Airways during the Farnborough International Airshow in July . Then, the group ordered GE Aerospace GEnx engines for six 787 aircraft, marking British Airways’ switch from the Trent 1000 to the GEnx.
More than a third of the total Boeing 787 orders are powered by the GE Aerospace GEnx..
