Thai Airways Faces Engine Problems

Thai Airways has become the latest major international airline to discuss the fundamental impact engine problems have on its business.

Engine difficulties have been a focal point of the industry for several years now, with the degree of impact on airlines varying from case to case.

Thai Airways’ focus is on its 787 Dreamliner operation, which currently has Rolls Royce engines that need maintenance checks.

However, while maintenance isn’t the core problem, the lengths these engines remain in maintenance affect the airline’s ability to offer the schedule it hoped for.

Interestingly, the engines are sent to the shops as part of the initial process of getting them repaired and brought up to the highest standard where needed.

Once in the shop, the engine should arrive in 90 days; however, that is now extended over a month to 120 days.

The delays can be attributed to the supply chain crisis impacting the entire world and the aviation industry. This is a costly and time-consuming complexity that companies, such as Thai Airways, have to learn how to mitigate.

While Rolls Royce has its issues, it isn’t limited to them. Pratt & Whitney is seeing something similar, and worse still, their engines have fundamental issues that have caused groundings and repair jobs to last years.

Because of supply chain issues, Rolls-Royce’s case critically lacks the components needed to complete work on time. As such, maintenance is drawn out, negatively impacting the airlines awaiting the engines to resume flying.

However, Thai Airways is not the only airline that has publicly discussed its impact and general frustrations when dealing with engine manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce.

Most notably, British Airways has made several cuts to its route network for the coming months in the last few weeks because of a shortage of 787 Dreamliners. This shortage is driven by the lack of engines for its planes, which are in the shop for inspection and maintenance.

Rolls-Royce is attempting to work through the backlog, which continues to grow and is assigning core resources to fix it. However, it knows that things aren’t going to get better overnight, magically, and it’ll fundamentally take time.

Time, however, is one thing that many airlines struggle to deal with as the longer it passes, the more negative impacts they feel.