Air New Zealand Cancels Some 787 Flights

Air New Zealand has had to cancel or delay several flights operated by Boeing 787s after incidents affecting the Rolls-Royce Trent engines on two flights this week and earlier maintenance requirements have led to a shortage of aircraft.

The airline has cancelled three flights on Friday and two on Saturday, with delays and further cancellations expected on a number of 787-operated services.

New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission [TAIC] has opened an investigation into the two incidents involving the 787s.

The first was on an Auckland - Tokyo-Narita flight on Tuesday, with a second incident the following day on an Auckland - Buenos Aires flight. The TAIC said both flights had “experienced an engine abnormality”, and after shutting down or throttling back the suspect engine, the aircraft returned to Auckland.

As Rolls-Royce has no spare engines available, Air NZ has had to ground some 787s for maintenance and source replacement aircraft during the process.

“Rolls-Royce has advised that some of the Trent 1000 engines in the airline's Boeing 787-9 fleet require maintenance sooner than previously indicated,” the airline said in a statement.

Rolls-Royce Trent 1000s, one of two engine types that power the 787 Dreamliner, has suffered problems in the past, particularly with Japanese carrier ANA after fatigue cracking of engine blades was detected.