Back in March this year British Airways announced that it would be returning to two cities in Asia that had their services cut during the COVID-19 pandemic – namely Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, with both reinstated to the roster for the 2024 winter scheduling season.

While plans to restart Bangkok flights are going ahead, there’s bad news for Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, with the airline postponing its relaunch to the city for five months, and the carrier is laying the blame squarely with Rolls-Royce.

The reason for the delay is apparently down to “excessive wear and tear” on Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines fitted to the carrier’s Boeing 787 aircraft, according to a report by The Telegraph, with the engine manufacturer unable to supply sufficient replacement engines or parts to keep the fleet fully operational.

It’s an issue we suspect is also currently affecting Singapore Airlines, with the carrier pulling three of its own Boeing 787-10s out of service in recent months.

Kuala Lumpur relaunch postponed

British Airways had planned to restart daily Boeing 787-9 flights between London Heathrow and Kuala Lumpur on 10th November 2024, but has now removed all flights on the route until the revised launch date – 1st April 2025.

Flights will still use four-class Boeing 787-9 aircraft when they do finally restart next year, which means there will also be a First Class option for travellers.

Here’s how the new schedule looks.

Kuala Lumpur London
From 2nd April 2025

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	BA34 787-9
KUL 23:10		LHR 05:25*
Duration: 13:15

* Next day

London Kuala Lumpur
From 1st April 2025

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	BA33 787-9
LHR 21:10		KUL 17:00*
Duration: 12:50

* Next day

The Boeing 787-9 includes a nice First Class product, with only eight seats in a 1-2-1 configuration across two rows.

Unfortunately in Business Class it remains the older Club World seat layout, however BA is planning to refit the new Club Suites product to these 787-9s in the coming years.

If you are booked on a cancelled service between Kuala Lumpur and London, British Airways has reportedly been offering alternative flights to or from Singapore, or on Oneworld partner Qatar Airways.

According to Head for Points, customers can also now be rebooked on non-stop Malaysia Airlines flights, or on Cathay Pacific flights via Hong Kong, if they wish.

Award rates

You can redeem award seats on British Airways’ Kuala Lumpur flights using any Oneworld airline’s frequent flyer currency, with some example redemption rates shown below.

British Airways award redemptions Kuala Lumpur to/from London (one-way)
FFP	Economy	Premium Economy	Business	First
	40,000* / 45,000**	55,000* / 80,000**	110,000* / 120,000**	119,000* / 147,500**
	35,000	55,000	75,000	90,000
	40,000	55,000	89,000	135,000
	37,600	71,100	94,900	142,300

* Off-peak dates
** Peak dates

Taxes and fees per passenger between Kuala Lumpur and London are approximately:

Taxes and charges on award tickets are a big consideration when redeeming on British Airways, but award space on the Kuala Lumpur route may be better than for Singapore flights, so it’s often worth checking.

BA will still restart its Bangkok – London flights as planned later this month, with three times weekly flights linking the Thai capital with London’s second airport Gatwick, using three-class Boeing 777s.

These flights will increase to five times weekly from mid-January 2025 to the end of February 2025, before reducing to four times weekly until the end of March 2025, then back to three times weekly for the summer 2025 season.

Guaranteed award space for Avios members

Don’t forget that British Airways Avios members can access guaranteed award space at T-355 days before departure, including on these reinstated Kuala Lumpur flights.

Here’s what they load at 8am Singapore Time each day, 355 days in advance:

• 4 Business Class
• 2 Premium Economy Class
• 8 Economy Class

That can make this a good backup redemption for a Europe trip for those making advance travel plans, in case you don’t find something better in the meantime.

You can cancel your BA Avios redemption and receive all points, taxes and fees back in your account up to 24 hours before departure, for a S$69 service fee per passenger.

Don’t forget you can also jump on guaranteed Avios awards on BA flights from Singapore to London and Singapore to Sydney at 355 days before departure, but you’ll have to be quick with these routes, especially if you want Business Class, as they usually get snapped up fast.

Rolls-Royce engine issues blamed

Postponing a new route launch just four weeks before it’s due to happen is not an easy decision for an airline, as it clearly doesn’t look good to customers.

In this case, British Airways isn’t being shy about why this delay is necessary, blaming a shortage of engines and spare parts from manufacturer Rolls-Royce for the decision.

“We’re disappointed that we’ve had to make further changes to our schedule as we continue to experience delays to the delivery of engines and parts from Rolls-Royce – particularly in relation to the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines fitted to our 787 aircraft.

“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. We’ve apologised to those affected and are able to offer the vast majority a flight the same day with British Airways or one of our partner airlines. 

“We continue to work closely with Rolls-Royce to ensure the company is aware of the impact its issues are having on our schedule and customers, and seek reassurance of a prompt and reliable solution.”

British Airways statement

According to Cirium, seven of BA’s Boeing 787s are currently grounded, around 18% of the 40-strong fleet.

BA will also be reducing its capacity between London Heathrow and Doha, and between London Gatwick and New York JFK during the winter season, as a result of these Boeing 787 engine challenges.

The airline told The Telegraph it is “not the only airline experiencing this issue”, and that does indeed appear to be the case.

Cirium data also reveals that All Nippon Airways, the largest operator of Boeing 787s with Rolls-Royce engines, currently has nine aircraft grounded, representing 11% of its fleet.

Closer to home, Singapore Airlines has three of its Boeing 787-10s out of service, accounting for 12% of its fleet.

One of those, 9V-SCC, hasn’t flown since May 2024 and according to reader reports is parked up at Changi with both of its engines removed.

Luckily Singapore Airlines does not operate long-haul services with its Boeing 787s, which in fact form part of a 50-strong regional wide-body fleet that also includes 24 Airbus A350 Medium Haul jets, so the impact is limited – for now at least.

This latest setback for British Airways isn’t the first issue carriers have faced with Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines.

Singapore Airlines was forced to temporarily ground over half its Boeing 787-10 fleet in April 2019, due to premature blade cracking.

More recently, Air New Zealand had to suspend its Auckland – Chicago flights when the carrier’s engineers found that its Boeing 787 Rolls-Royce engines needed heavy maintenance every 750 to 850 flights, rather than at the manufacturer’s intended 1,000-flight intervals.

Air New Zealand has now switched to General Electric engines for its future Boeing 787 deliveries, the same type used by airlines such as Qatar Airways, United, and Qantas. The aircraft’s largest customer, All Nippon Airways, has also made the same switch.

British Airways has postponed its planned return to daily Kuala Lumpur – London flights at the last minute, due to a shortage of spare parts for Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines, which are reportedly wearing out faster than anticipated.

Affected passengers can be rebooked on other Oneworld carriers, including Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways.

The route will finally restart in April 2025, with daily four-class Boeing 787-9 flights planned, providing a useful backup option for many of our Singapore-based readers using Asia Miles or Avios points to redeem Business Class flights from Asia to Europe.

Let’s hope these Trent engine issues can be resolved, including for Singapore Airlines.

(Cover Photo: Robin Guess / Shutterstock)