Air New Zealand has announced it will pause its service between Auckland and Chicago from 31 March to 25 October this year due to issues with the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines.
Ongoing challenges with the availability of Trent 1000s has resulted in the grounding of three of the airline’s Boeing 787 aircraft – the type used on the Auckland-Chicago route.
The flag carrier said the pause of the route will cause the least amount of disruption to its network given the circumstance.
Leanne Geraghty, Air New Zealand’s chief customer and sales officer, said: “We know this will be disappointing for customers travelling to and from Chicago during this period, especially to those travelling over the upcoming April holiday break.
“It’s not a decision we’ve made lightly and we’re sorry to make this change so close to the time some customers plan to fly.
“Unfortunately, Air New Zealand continues to be impacted by challenges with availability of Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines, meaning we will now have up to three aircraft unavailable for an extended period, so we’ve had to review our schedule.”
The airline maintains there are “plenty of options” to get to Chicago, where it will still serve up to 35 flights per week to six other airports across the US and Canada.
Passengers already booked will be rerouted through other US airports, or will have the option to receive a refund or credit.
Geraghty added: “Getting our customers to their destination safely is our number one priority, and to do that we need to ensure our aircraft and engines are maintained to the highest standard.
“These challenges do not present a safety risk to customers flying on our 787 fleet.”
Air New Zealand engineers found the Trent 1000 engines would require heavy maintenance much sooner than anticipated.
Rolls-Royce is unable to provide the spares needed for the airline to maintain full operations of its 787s.
