IAG unit British Airways is continuing to work through the challenges on its Rolls-Royce Trent 1000-powered Boeing 787s which prompted it to remove some its planned winter capacity, while remaining on the lookout for options to bolster its long-haul fleet.

BA pulled back some of its planned capacity growth citing delays to the delivery of engines and parts from Rolls-Royce – particularly in relation to the Trent 1000 engines powering its Dreamliners. The Oneworld carrier will grow capacity 4% in the fourth quarter, slightly below the group capacity increase of 5% for the period.

”We are having the same issues like everyone is having. So we have reduced the [winter] programme because we don’t have enough engines,” said IAG chief executive Luis Gallego during a third-quarter earnings call on 8 November.

”We are improving the technical dispatch for our A380s and that is helping. In general we are happy with performance of the fleet, but it is true we have an issue with the 787s we are trying to solve.”

BA chief executive Sean Doyle says the carrier took out capacity as the scale of the impact on the 787s increased towards the end of the summer.

”I think that’s worked and our completion factor has improved materially since we made that intervention,” he says. ”On the A380 we have seen a big improvement in TDR [technical dispatch reliability] and our completion factor is a lot better tin the second half of the year than it was in the first.

”In essence we are still working through the 787 impact for next summer, but our focus will be on making sure the operation is resilient and building on the progress we have made in the last six weeks.”

IAG has not issued capacity guidance for 2025.

BA took delivery of four widebodies – three 787-10s and one A350-1000 – during the first nine months of 2024. “So we have the full-year effect of flying them next year – albeit offset by the impact of the Rolls-Royce Trent engines [availability],” Doyle notes.

”Then we have more deliveries which are scheduled in 2026, which are 787-10s and which again we are working through when they will arrive,” he adds.

”But I think we have been relatively conservative in our delivery assumptions and our plans. We are keeping our eye on the situation closely and if there are solutions available in the market.”