BA’s suspension of Abu Dhabi flights likely to push up fares

• Flights will stop from March 30
• Rolls-Royce engines delayed
• Reduced capacity to hurt tourism

British Airways’ decision to suspend daily flights from London Heathrow to Abu Dhabi is likely to push up airfare prices and have an impact on tourism demand in the UAE capital.

The UK flag carrier announced on Wednesday that flights from the west London airport will stop from March 30 next year through to October 25 as a result of delays to the delivery of engines and parts from Rolls-Royce.

“If there is reduced capacity and reduced competition on the route, one would expect fares to rise, which won’t help tourism to Abu Dhabi,” said David Tarsh, a UK-based tourism consultant.

BA only relaunched its daily BA073 flight from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi in April, after the service was stopped for four years beginning with the Covid pandemic.

It is unclear how many passengers will be affected by the suspension. Passengers have been offered full refunds or the option to rebook with BA’s partners Etihad Airways or Qatar Airways.

“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,” a statement from BA said.

The most recent figures available show that between January and September 2023, 88,000 UK travellers visited Abu Dhabi, up from 73,000 during the same period the previous year.

A spokesperson for Rolls-Royce said the problem was due to industry-wide challenging supply chain constraints. 

“We continue to work with all our customers to minimise the impact of the limited availability of spares parts. All of the companies in our industry are suffering from this.”

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The Trent 1000 engine in question has had more than 20 million in-service flying hours since its entry into service in 2011.

John Grant, a partner at UK-based Midas Aviation and an AGBI columnist, said: “It’s a big issue affecting carriers around the world and BA has been making cuts or suspending services all over the place to cover the gaps.”

In November BA announced plans to scrap direct flights to Bahrain and Kuwait, although the former route has since been restored to the schedule.

A month earlier, the airline had announced the cancellation of daily flights between Heathrow and Kuala Lumpur this winter, as well as flights from London Gatwick to New York over a five-month period.

BA also reduced its daily service from Heathrow to Doha from two flights to one because of the technical problems.