Air New Zealand to cancel some summer flights due to Rolls-Royce engine checks

Nov 18 (Reuters) - Air New Zealand Ltd said on Monday about 14,000 customers would be affected by cancellations this summer because of ongoing Rolls-Royce engine checks on its Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

The national carrier said it had 10 Trent 1000 engines on its 787-9 fleet but that schedule changes were "now unavoidable", adding that further changes may also be needed.

Rolls-Royce is asking operators of the engines to carry out more frequent maintenance because of an issue with its high-pressure turbine blades, Air NZ said.

(Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Cooney)