ANA to cancel additional Boeing 787 flights
All Nippon Airways (ANA) has been forced to cancel an additional 176 Boeing 787 flights due to ongoing checks with Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines.
The new cancellations will take effect up until the 22nd of July, and adds to the previous 113 cancellations announced last week.
Rolls-Royce has been working hard with ANA for the last two years to get 787 operations running smoothly again. Despite this effort, safety authorities and newly identified problems have hindered their work.
66 Package C and 70 Package B variant Trent 1000s are the engines subject to the rigorous inspections that are being completed. With multiple other airlines such as Air New Zealand, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways also suffering from the same problems, sourcing replacement parts is becoming a struggle.
Although these problems have caused massive disruptions to airline operations, Rolls-Royce has reportedly been a great partner to work with. They accept their mistakes and are working well to minimize disruptions and fix what they can. Once all the inspections are complete worldwide and production ramps up again, airlines such as ANA can enjoy the performance the newly revised Trent 1000 TEN has to offer compared to the competing engine.
On the other side of things, Airbus is facing no problems with the Trent XWB. Since entry into service, customers of the A350 wide body have been praising the performance and efficiency of the engine. Rolls-Royce insists that the engine will not suffer from Trent 1000 related problems down the line, primarily because it features different design elements.
The Trent 7000 fitted on the A330neo family is a derivative from the Trent 1000 and Rolls-Royce is preparing for possible entry into service teething issue. Despite this, by the time the first lot of A330neos are delivered, Rolls-Royce is expected to have a fix for the family, severely reducing potential airline disruption.
Engine issues are bound to occur, especially since we’re currently approaching the end of this generations technology. You cannot avoid it but better plans can be put in place to prepare for it. In this case, and many other cases with other engine manufacturers, this plan may not have been executed correctly or at the right time.
These cancellations exist for our safety. They may be a pain but it ensures we get from point A to point B in a safe and efficient manner. Once complete, it’s likely that airlines will be glad they’re working with a professional, developed company with decades of experience.