Grounding of half of Jetstar's 787s blamed on bad luck, supply chain

Over half of Jetstar's 787 fleet were grounded this week, adding to travel woes. Photo / Josh Withers, Unsplash

Jetstar left 4000 travellers stuck in Bali this week following the grounding of over half of their 787 Dreamliner fleet. The carrier blamed this aircraft shortage on a collection of "unfortunate" events.

The mid-haul aircraft had been serving routes between Melbourne, Sydney and Bali, affecting the travel plans of thousands of Australian and New Zealand travellers.

A "number of issues" including a lightning damage, a bird strike and supply chain issues saw six out of eleven jets grounded at the beginning of this week.

On Tuesday the airline cancelled further services to Phuket and Japan, on top of the busy Bali services citing "global supply chain challenges".

Jetstar Chief Pilot, Jeremy Schmidt said the Boeing 787 fleet had "been impacted by a number of issues, including a lightning strike, a bird strike, damage from an item on the runway". Schmidt also mentioned supply chain as a factor in the aircraft shortage.

It was understood replacement parts for some aircraft had to be "road freighted" across the US, slowing the service of some aircraft.

The airline downplayed supply chain issues saying that the 787s had suffered a series of "unfortunate" events.

A spokesperson for Jetstar says the three of the aircraft were back in service by the end of the week and two more would aim to be operational by next week.

A further aircraft remains out of service, awaiting delivery of parts from the US.

"While these events were out of our control, we understand the significant impact this has had on our customers and we sincerely apologise for the frustration and inconvenience this has caused," said the airline.

"The team is working hard to return these aircraft to service as quickly as possible."

4000 travellers stuck in Bali

Since the beginning of the month the airline has cancelled eight return services between Australia and Denpasar, delaying others by as much as 24 hours.

Pre-pandemic Jetstar operated 85 return flights per week to Bali, carrying more than 2 million customers annually. Without direct flights from New Zealand, Kiwi travellers also been caught up in the disruption to budget links to Bali.

Parent company Qantas Group says it has been arranging five "special flights" to repatriate travellers from Indonesia.

Jetstar is offering Impacted customers in Bali reimbursement for accommodation of up to Au$150 per room and AU$30 per person for meals and expenses.