Air New Zealand is warning of disruptions for up to 14,000 customers over the busy holiday period.
Scores of flights will be cancelled as the airline struggles to complete engine checks on its Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
It is caused by ongoing issues with Trent 1000 engines, with the airline stating significant changes over the December-January period are ‘now unavoidable.’
Rolls-Royce has been trying to fix issues on the turbine blades for some time.
The cost of fixing the issue has gone up by an estimated $1 billion.
"Rolls-Royce does not have any replacement engines available while maintenance work is undertaken and has advised Air New Zealand there’s a significant wait for repair service," Air NZ said.
Air New Zealand said it will suspend its twice weekly seasonal Christchurch-Perth service and halve its current twice a day service linking Auckland and Perth from December 10 until January 5, 2020.
"Going into the holiday season, we’re acutely aware how important travel is to our customers, and our schedule changes are designed to keep cancellations to a minimum," Air NZ’s senior manager for customer care and communications Doug Grant said.
