KUWAIT CITY, Nov 9: British Airways (BA) has announced that it will indefinitely suspend flights to Bahrain and Kuwait until the end of March 2025 due to ongoing problems with the Rolls-Royce engines powering its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet.

The airline’s decision affects routes it has served for almost a century in Bahrain (92 years) and over six decades in Kuwait. The cuts come amid a wider reduction in British Airways services, including the recent decision to discontinue flights to Dallas Fort Worth from summer 2025 and a reduction in services to Miami.

These latest route changes follow BA’s earlier decision to end non-stop flights from Heathrow to Beijing and halve the Hong Kong service. BA attributed the cuts on its Asian network to rising costs associated with Russian airspace restrictions.

The airline’s long-awaited return to Kuala Lumpur has also been delayed by at least six months. Originally scheduled for October 2024, with daily flights on the 787-9 Dreamliner, the service is delayed as British Airways awaits delivery of essential parts from Rolls-Royce for its Trent 1000 engines.

Rolls-Royce supply chain delays have compounded BA’s operational challenges, already affected by the limited availability of its Airbus A380 superjumbo fleet. These ongoing issues have forced British Airways to make difficult decisions, leading to deeper schedule cuts and potential redundancies for cabin crew stationed in Bahrain and Kuwait.

In a statement last month, BA expressed its frustration with Rolls-Royce, highlighting the significant impact the engine maker’s problems are having on the airline’s operations. BA chief operating officer Rene de Groot initially assured staff that the cancellations would only last for around ten days, but delays in the delivery of spare parts suggest the disruptions could be longer.

As British Airways grapples with supply chain bottlenecks, its customers and crew remain in limbo with no clear solution in sight.