Airbus A321 delays flare as planemaker begins ramp up

Bloomberg

Airbus SE has encountered issues with the production of its flagship narrow-body model, just as it begins ramping up jetliner build rates following coronavirus lockdowns.
Customer Air Lease Corp said on an analyst call that some A321neo handovers due this year have been pushed back as Airbus struggles with pandemic and supply-chain issues. The lessor added in a filing that the A330neo wide-body has also been affected to a lesser extent.
“Airbus has advised us to continue to expect several months of delivery delays relating to such aircraft scheduled to deliver through 2022,” the Los Angeles-based firm said in the filing. “These delays also have impacted airline operations and the profitability of certain airlines.”
An Airbus spokesman said here’s no systemic delay, though “a few aircraft could be some months behind.” The company said any shortfall can be addressed by the end of the year.
Enduring snags with the A321neo could endanger Airbus’s plans to accelerate output coming out of the Covid-19 crisis. The high-capacity variant of the A320 is now its most popular aircraft, accounting for about half of the 6,000 or so narrow-bodies in the order backlog.
The model had been plagued by glitches even before the outbreak, with engine issues
slowing output and extensive cabin-customisation options adding to build times.
While the A321neo’s only European production line is in Hamburg, Germany, the A330 is assembled at Airbus’s headquarters in Toulouse, France, so that the current issues appear to involve more than one site.
Sash Tusa, an analyst at Agency Partners in London, said it’s also concerning that the company is encountering problems with A320-series output at only 43 aircraft in July, when its recovery plans envisage boosting the build rate to 64 a month by the second quarter of 2023.
“If suppliers aren’t able to cope with the current levels of production it could delay the much more aggressive targets,” Tusa said. Problems with the A330 are surprising given that the average build rate has been cut below two planes a month as the pandemic continues to weigh on long-haul flights, he added.
The pre-Covid problems meant Airbus was was unable to keep pace with A321 demand and ultimately had to slash its 2019 delivery target.