A lack of spares for Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines that power the Boeing 787's have meant that Virgin Atlantic has been forced to defer its planned retirement of the four-engined wonder - the Airbus A340.
According to FlightGlobal a Norwegian Boeing 787 suffered an uncontained engine failure in Italy in August, which lead to a number of Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines being pulled out of the rotating pool and thus caused a shortage of powerplants and parts.
The last flights of Virgin Atlantic's Airbus A340 aircraft were scheduled to take place during October this year, however, "we're keeping them for about two months longer" Philip Meher Virgin Atlantics EVP of operations told FlightGlobal on 18th September. A "minor issue with the supply of engines from Rolls-Royce towards the back end of this year" was cited as the cause.
The Virgin A340-600s feature 45 seats in the business 'Upper Class' cabin, complete with a bar situated at the rear of the cabin in the centre, behind seat 16G. The aircraft also features 38 seats in the premium economy cabin and 225 seats in the normal economy (classic and delight) cabin, bringing the total capacity to 308 people.
So for a couple of extra months, fans of the big beast will still have the opportunity to see and spot the aircraft accorss the Virgin route network.
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