Holidays are about to get more expensive — if you’re lucky enough to take off

An engine shortage behind flight cancellations and rising prices might take years to fix (Picture: Getty)

Holidays are going to get more expensive as airlines hike prices and cancel flights due to a shortage of airplane engines and spare parts.

This means if you’re lucky enough to get off the ground, you could be paying a far higher price for the pleasure.

At least that’s the case for a hand-baggage only ticket on British Airways’ Heathrow to Cape Town route, The Independent’s Simon Calder revealed.

If you were to fly on April 11, you’ll be paying £2,922 return, which is nearly three times the price of a similar journey to and from Johannesburg, also in South Africa, on the same dates.

This is due to a shortage of Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines needed to replace the engines of aging Boeing 787s.

Without them, airplanes may be deemed unsafe for travel, forcing airlines like British Airways and Virgin Atlantic to ground planes used for long-haul flights.

The airline cancelled 4,033 flights from UK airports in the 12 months before July this year, near double that of its low-cost rival easyJet.

Last month, British Airways axed seat capacity between the UK and southeast Asia by 200,000.

Airplanes need new engines to stay flight-worthy, but there aren’t enough to go around (Picture: Ceri Breeze/iStock/Getty Images)

Passengers could find themselves disappointed if their even more expensive flights are cancelled (Picture: Justin Tallis / AFP via Getty Images)

With fewer planes in the air, there’s less competition between airlines, driving up prices as a result.

Flying was a luxury when commercial flights were first introduced.

In the 1950s, you could easily pay the modern equivalent of £5,000 for a one-way ticket to the US.

Now, you can fly from London to New York and back again for £470.

We have grown used to cheap airfare, and even the Covid-19 pandemic didn’t send them skyrocketing.

But supply chain problems, which emerged from job cuts and scaled-back manufacturing in this period, might change that.

It might take years to fix the supply chain issues grounding flights, potentially pricing out customers who’ve benefited from years of falling prices (Picture: Getty Images)

It’s not just British Airways’ Heathrow-Kuala Lumpur route that’s been affected. Virgin Atlantic won’t resume flights between London and Accra, Ghana, or to Tel Aviv in Israel, until next winter.

It too blames the Rolls Royce shortages. Paul Charles, who was the airline’s director of communications before joining The PC Agency, said: ‘The engine issues have caused massive problems for airlines and consumers.

More Trending

Read More Stories

‘Airline planning teams have had to rewrite their rulebooks on how they use their fleet on the most popular destinations that they need to protect – and gamble on which routes will pay the price and be deleted from their networks.

‘For consumers, prices will continue to rise – 2025 will see record fares on many routes. If you want to go abroad next year, be prepared to pay for it is the message.’

A spokesperson for Rolls-Royce said: ‘We continue to work with all our customers to minimise the impact of the limited availability of spare parts.

‘We have been taking decisive action and moving quickly to prioritise the resources needed to reduce the impact created by the current industry-wide supply chain constraints, it’s the highest priority for our Civil Aerospace division.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE : Plane narrowly avoids crashing into mountain after missing turn during take-off

MORE : Passengers scream as plane hits severe turbulence over North Atlantic

MORE : New private airport terminal means you can fly like a VIP for just £90

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.