The primary U.S.-made Airbus jetliner moves down the assembly line at the corporate’s factory in Mobile, Alabama, U.S. on September 13, 2015. Picture taken on September 13, 2015.
Alwyn Scott | Reuters
Air travel demand is showing no sign of easing, but Airbus and Boeing are struggling at hand over planes on time, a trend that is limiting airline growth and keeping fares high.
JetBlue Airways said Tuesday it was imagined to receive 29 planes from Airbus next 12 months but will only get about 22.
“I believe we’re all well aware that they are struggling from ramp-up challenges driven by manpower and provide chain,” JetBlue’s CFO, Ursula Hurley, said on the Recent York-based carrier’s quarterly call. “We’re working hand-in-hand with them to administer through those.”
Last week, American Airlines CFO Derek Kerr said the carrier expects to take delivery of 19 Boeing 737 Max 8 planes in 2023, compared with the 27 it previously expected based on guidance from the manufacturer. And Southwest Airlines is keeping aircraft delivery delays in mind in its 2023 plan.
Airlines that had parked planes and slashed flights early within the pandemic when travel demand collapsed are actually struggling to expand in the course of the travel boom.
Aerospace firms and airlines shed staff and are actually attempting to staff and train latest employees. Together with shortages of trained pilots, the issues are making bargain flights much more elusive.
Executives at Boeing and its chief rival, Airbus, have said supply chain problems and labor shortfalls have prevented the businesses from ramping up production to satisfy the recovery in air travel.
Boeing on Wednesday reported a 40% increase in its business unit revenues in the course of the third quarter but acknowledged the challenges proceed to weigh on production.
“We’re not anticipating or suggesting that the availability chain world goes to get significantly better within the near term,” CEO Dave Calhoun said Wednesday on the corporate’s quarterly earnings call. “We expect it can proceed to be challenged over the course of 2023.”
Calhoun told staff that the problems will prevent production increases of its planes. A part of the issue is not only staffing shortages but costly and time-consuming training of recent staff.
“Inside our production facilities, we’re not pushing the system too fast,” he said in a note to employees on Wednesday.
The corporate will hand over about 375 Boeing 737 planes this 12 months, finance chief Brian West said, down from its January estimate of around 500 of them.
West said the corporate is working more on site with its top and second-tier suppliers in response to the continuing challenges.
Boeing’s European rival Airbus is aiming to extend production of its popular A320 family of planes to 65 a month in early 2024 and 75 in 2025, up from 50 a month this 12 months.
But Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said Friday that it will take at the very least until the center of next 12 months for the availability chain to stabilize.
“What we’re sharing is the proven fact that … the situation, the environment has got worse over the past 12 months,” Faury said on the quarterly call with analysts. “And it looks like it has stopped to worsen, which suggests it’s bad.”
The problems have been felt throughout the manufacturers’ suppliers, similar to engine makers.
“While we’re working many actions across our businesses day-after-day to mitigate the impacts of supply chain constraints and labor availability … we do expect these pressures will proceed to persist into next 12 months as well,” said Raytheon Technologies CFO Neil Mitchill in the course of the company’s quarterly earnings call on Tuesday.
Raytheon’s Pratt & Whitney engines fly on each Boeing and Airbus planes, and its Collins Aerospace unit supplies each manufacturers.
