Thai Air adds to criticism of Rolls-Royce over engine delays

Thai Airways International aircraft at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. Thai Airways said its Rolls-Royce engines are spending more time than ever undergoing maintenance checks, adding to a chorus of criticism over the power units.

Thai Airways International PCL said its Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc engines are spending more time than ever undergoing maintenance checks, adding to a chorus of criticism over the power units.

Chief Executive Officer Chai Eamsiri said the engines powering its Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner aircraft are spending as long as 120 days undergoing checks, significantly longer than the 90-day wait when the British manufacturer previously encountered similar delays.

“We send it for a shop visit and it doesn’t come back,” he said at an annual meeting of Asian airlines in Brunei on Tuesday. “It used to be 90 days. Now it’s longer, toward 120 days.”

Rolls-Royce blamed industry-wide supply chain constraints for the delays. The company is working to prioritize resources needed to reduce the impact on airlines, a spokesperson said.

Thai Airways’ comments on the increased wait times shed more light on the growing discontent among Rolls-Royce customers. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd have suspended several routes over the past month due to a shortage of aircraft caused by the backlog.

On Monday, Rolls-Royce said it had formed a task force to address maintenance issues with its Trent 1000 engines used on the 787. The group is bringing together employees from operations, supply chain, engineering, technology and planning teams to speed up maintenance on the engine model.

Thai Airways has fewer than 10 Rolls-powered 787s but one is currently grounded without engines, according to Chai.

He said he wasn’t sure about the details of the renewed delays. Rolls-Royce appears to be facing too much demand for maintenance visits from “every airline” with the engines spending fewer hours flying and more time in the shop, he said.

The situation is “not getting worse but it should be better,” Chai said, given Thai Airways’ previous struggles with Rolls-Royce engines that led it to pick General Electric Co to supply the power units for the 45 787 Dreamliners it ordered earlier this year.