The perfect storm making long-haul travel more expensive

The issue is that BA’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner engines have suffered excessive wear and tear, but Rolls-Royce has failed to supply enough replacement engines to keep them all in the skies. This is due to “supply chain constraints… affecting the whole aerospace industry,” according to a Rolls-Royce spokesman.

Many of the thousands of affected passengers will be placed on alternative BA flights, or on routes operated by partners such as Qatar Airways. But a reduction of services means the same number of passengers are vying for fewer seats, which is causing steeper fares ahead of the already expensive Christmas period. Unfortunately for passengers, this is just one lightning bolt in a growing storm of problems facing the aviation industry in 2024.

Narrowing airspace corridors

It is now two-and-a-half years since Russia closed its airspace to airlines from dozens of countries (including the UK) in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. The airspace shutdown means that carriers travelling from Europe to east Asia need to take alternative routes to their usual flightpath over Siberia.

Ian Petrechenik of flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 says: “Most airlines with flights between Europe and Asia have shifted their flights south to avoid Russian airspace. Instead of heading east through Russia and then south to destinations in Japan, South Korea, China and elsewhere in south-east Asia, flights now first travel south to cross via Turkey, central Asia, China and Mongolia.

“Travelling eastbound, this adds approximately one hour of flying time. On the return trip, flights can now take up to three hours longer.”