Qatar Airways has offered to provide capacity to British Airways as the UK carrier deals with scheduling disruption caused by engine maintenance on Boeing 787s.
The maintenance centres on checks ordered on Rolls-Royce Trent 1000-powered aircraft following concerns over blade durability.
British Airways parent IAG's chief, Willie Walsh, says that "a number" of 787s will be "unavailable" during the late spring and summer months of May, June and July.
While he hopes to "fully resolve" the issue at the end of July, or during early August, he says that IAG has held discussions with a number of carriers, including Qatar Airways, to provide capacity.
"We've not concluded anything but Qatar has indicated it should be able to assist us with additional aircraft if required," says Walsh.
He says that related restrictions on extended twin-engined operations (ETOPS) have not had a significant effect on British Airways' services, and the carrier has been able to "rejig its schedule to some degree".
Walsh says IAG will "definitely" be pursuing compensation from Rolls-Royce over the engine problems, adding that he is "very frustrated" by the situation with the powerplant manufacturer. "There's no question that their performance is unacceptable," he says.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
