Brits thinking about booking their abroad getaway for next year are being warned of soaring flight prices due to plane supply chain snags.
The predicted shortage of plane engines and spare parts is likely to cause a surge in flight cancellations alongside a huge rise in airfares.
A shortage of Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines has already grounded some British Airways and Virgin Atlantic flights and the situation could spiral in 2025, reports The Independent.
The Trent 1000 engine powers long-haul Boeing 787 Dreamliner craft.
The situation is already causing a spike in airfares as airline competition narrows.
Insiders are now warning that flight cancellations linked to supply chain issues will hit their peak next year.
In a previous statement, BA noted that it had made Rolls-Royce “aware of the impact” these issues were having on its schedule and passengers and that it was seeking “reassurance of a prompt and reliable solution.”
Rolls-Royce said that it was actively working with BA and other affected airlines to “minimise the impact” of limited spare part availability, an issue that has affected the entire aerospace industry.
Last month, BA removed 200,000 seats from the available capacity between the UK and southeast Asia this winter, in a move it blamed on “delays to the delivery of engines and parts from Rolls-Royce”.
This included its cancelling the resumption of daily flights between Heathrow and Kuala Lumpur.
Virgin Atlantic also blamed Rolls-Royce shortages after it postponed plans to resume flights between London and Accra in Ghana and Tel Aviv in Israel until next winter.
Paul Charles, former director of communications at Virgin Atlantic and now CEO at The PC Agency, told The Independent that the engine supply issues have “caused massive problems for airlines and consumers”.
He said: “Airline planning teams have had to rewrite their rulebooks on how they use their fleet on the most popular destinations that they need to protect – and gamble on which routes will pay the price and be deleted from their networks.”
He warned that airfares will continue to rise – and that 2025 will see “record fares on many routes”.
