Jess Battison
The winter season is coming up and while many Brits might use the time to jet off to somewhere tropical and sunnier there’s also the big city break destination.
Yep, as the Christmas lights go up and the ice rinks come out, it often feels like everyone and their nan on Instagram heads over to New York.
A trip to the Big Apple is one of those big save up for ages kind of travels but for some people hoping to go this winter, the American dream could be over.
That’s because British Airways has cancelled all flights between New York and a major UK airport until next year.
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It is predicted that at least 103 flights are expected to be affected by the change as it suspends them from London Gatwick to John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport.
A British Airways spokesperson said: “We’re disappointed that we’ve had to make further changes to our schedule as we continue to experience delays to the delivery of engines and parts from Rolls-Royce - particularly in relation to the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines fitted to our 787 aircraft.
“We've taken this action because we do not believe the issue will be solved quickly, and we want to offer our customers the certainty they deserve for their travel plans. We’ve apologised to those affected and are able to offer the vast majority a flight the same day with British Airways or one of our partner airlines.
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“We continue to work closely with Rolls-Royce to ensure the company is aware of the impact its issues are having on our schedule and customers, and seek reassurance of a prompt and reliable solution.”
And a Rolls Royce spokesperson also said: “We continue to work with British Airways and all of our customers to minimise the impact of the limited availability of spares due to the current supply chain constraints.
“Unfortunately, this is an issue affecting the whole aerospace industry.”
While this might seem like pretty heart-breaking news for anyone planning to jet off to the US city, British Airways points out that the Gatwick flight is one of up to nine daily flights it operates from London to JFK as it runs the other eight from Heathrow.
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As well as the New York route being affected, British Airways has reportedly also had to push back plans to relaunch its route between Heathrow and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, originally due to resume on 12 November.
Now, that’s most likely to be available again in April.