Flydubai cancels new routes planned for 2024 due to Boeing jet delivery delays

Dubai airline scraps Baltic flights scheduled for October start, reduces route frequencies and suspends service to Pisa

The Flydubai chief executive Ghaith Al Ghaith joins a growing chorus of aviation leaders expressing frustration about continuing delivery delays. Photo: Flydubai

Flydubai has cancelled the launch of routes planned for the second half of this year and reduced capacity on some others because of jet delivery delays at Boeing and supply chain problems, its chief executive has said.

The Dubai-based airline also temporarily suspended its flight schedule to Pisa in Italy from October to March 2025 to mitigate the impact on busy travel periods.

Flydubai cancelled its routes to Riga in Latvia, Tallinn in Estonia and Vilnius in Lithuania that were scheduled to start in October, despite a solid performance in the first six months of the year, chief executive Ghaith Al Ghaith told The National on Monday.

The all-Boeing fleet operator said in July that its growth plans have been "stunted" after it received an update from the US manufacturer that it would not receive any more planes this year, creating a capacity shortage during a period of strong demand.

The airline then had to examine the knock-on effect on its new routes and flight frequencies on existing destinations as a result, Mr Al Ghaith said at the time.

"Flydubai had another strong performance for the first half of 2024, and we have seen very strong demand for travel this summer as well. We are pleased to see a successful start of operations to our newest destination in Europe, with the launch of direct flights to Basel earlier this month. Unfortunately, there will be no further route launches this year," Mr Al Ghaith said on Monday.

"The airline had recently revised its flight schedule due to ongoing delays in aircraft delivery schedules and supply chain disruptions. To mitigate the impact during the busy travel periods, we have cancelled our upcoming route launches in the Baltic that were planned for October."

In December, Boeing told flydubai that it will deliver 12 planes in 2024. That included four that were delayed from 2023.

In March, the airline was informed it will receive only eight of the 12 planes.

In July, Boeing told flydubai that it will not receive any additional aircraft beyond the four already delivered this year.

"We are doing everything we can to reduce the impact of the schedule changes on our customers without having to resort back to wet leasing additional aircraft. This remains an option to explore for the future if we have to," Mr Al Ghaith said.

"In line with these developments, we are in touch with our customers and travel partners regarding their refund or rebooking options."

Flydubai advised customers whose flights have been affected to visit its website or call the flydubai contact centre, the flydubai travel store or their travel agent.

"We apologise for the inconvenience caused to our customers’ travel schedules," Mr Al Ghaith said.

The flydubai chief joins a growing chorus of aviation leaders expressing frustrations about continuing aircraft delays. This comes as Boeing struggles with a safety and quality crisis, which was caused by a panel falling off a 737 Max jet in mid-air in January. Its rival Airbus is also struggling to reach production output goals.

Etihad Airways' chief executive Antonoaldo Neves this month said that when he meets Boeing's new chief executive Kelly Ortberg “sooner or later”, he will have one main request for the new leader of the company.

“When I meet him and I ask him one thing, it's going to be: 'please deliver my planes on time'”, Mr Neves said in an interview this month.

Mr Ortberg has pledged to “restore trust” in the embattled US aerospace company when he officially took charge on August 8.

Delays in delivering planes have hobbled global airlines' efforts to fully capitalise on the post-pandemic surge in air travel demand.

In July, Boeing's chief of commercial jets Stephanie Pope said the company had disappointed its customers but it was making transformational and systemic changes based on feedback from its employees, airlines and regulators.