British Airways Reverses Decision To Cancel Bahrain Service As It Navigates Rolls-Royce Engine Issues

British Airways has confirmed that it would not temporarily ax flights from London to Bahrain, with the airline citing discussions with partners and stakeholders that underpinned the decision.

Still flying to Bahrain

In a statement to Simple Flying, a British Airways spokesperson confirmed that the airline would continue flights from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Bahrain International Airport (BAH).

“Following discussions with our partners and stakeholders, we can confirm we will operate a service between London Heathrow and Bahrain International Airport three times a week from the start of the Summer 2025 season. This will increase to a daily service from the start of the Winter 2025 season.”

Current schedules from the aviation analytics company Cirium still showed that instead of the double-daily flight between Heathrow and Bahrain that the airline ran in the summer season of 2024, there will be no itineraries between the two cities operated by British Airways. A schedule update should reflect the carrier’s plans that have now changed.

In addition to the British carrier, Gulf Air, the flag carrier of Bahrain, has scheduled 28 weekly flights between London-Heathrow and Bahrain, with the airline opting to use its Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

Gulf Air and British Airways’ Boeing 787s are equipped with the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine, which the latter airline has been struggling with as the British engine manufacturer has faced issues with supplying its customers with spare parts and engines.

British Airways cited the supply problems as the reason it had to readjust its network in 2025, including temporary exits on flights to some destinations in the United States, such as Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport (DFW).

Gulf Air has ten 787-9 aircraft, two of which are currently stored, ch-aviation data showed.

Barely growing

Nevertheless, the supply issues have forced British Airways to face a grim reality: its growth prospects in 2025 would be limited by external factors.

Cirium data showed that while in January 2025, it will add 78 weekly flights year-on-year (YoY) with all of its widebody aircraft, in February 2025, the number of weekly departures will go down by 13, improving by 27 during the next month.

Overall, between January 2025 and October 2025, British Airways will operate an average of 17.8 additional weekly flights YoY with widebodies, indicating that its long-haul network will barely grow throughout the first ten months of 2025.

The carrier’s weekly flights with the 787 will only increase by an average of 11.1 from January 2025 to October 2025, with the most recent schedule update removing an average of 83.7 weekly flights per month from April 2025 to October 2025.

Ch-aviation fleet records showed that British Airways has 12 787-8, 18 787-9, and 11 787-10 aircraft in its fleet, with two 787-8 and 787-10 each and three 787-9s currently stored.

Other operators’ pains

However, there are more airlines that will be affected by supply issues from Rolls-Royce. For example, Virgin Atlantic, which has 17 787-9s (one stored), all of which are powered by the Trent 1000, has scheduled 6.6 fewer weekly flights during the first ten months of 2025.

Overall, weekly flights with Trent 1000-powered 787s, which includes 25 operators globally, will increase by only 26.4 YoY between January 2025 and October 2025.

While some operators, such as avianca, Air China, and Singapore Airlines, will steadily grow their 787 operations during the first ten months of 2025, others, including the two aforementioned British airlines, will have to cut their 787 flights significantly.

This includes but is not exclusive to Air New Zealand (an average reduction of 13.5 weekly flights from January 2025 to October 2025), All Nippon Airways (-136.9), Gulf Air (-20.3), and LATAM Airlines (-12.6).

Some of these carriers, such as Air New Zealand, British Airways, and LATAM Airlines, have announced 787 orders where they opted for the GE Aerospace GEnx, the alternative to the Trent 1000, as the choice to power their to-be-delivered Dreamliners.