(Updates Nov 25 story to include context for parked jets in
ninth paragraph, engine executive comment in 13th paragraph)
PARIS, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Airbus is preparing
the ground for further delays to planned delivery dates of some
medium-haul aircraft in 2023 even as it races to meet delivery
targets for 2022 in the face of supply chain and labour
problems, three industry sources said.
The twin-speed approach comes as uncertainty remains over
supplies of engines for new plane production as well as other
parts and labour, they added, asking not to be named.
A spokesperson for Airbus said it had no comment on
deliveries ahead of its next monthly bulletin in early December.
Analysts say aerospace is grappling with a series of
concurrent problems with multiple knock-on effects.
Jetliner and engine makers are battling supply chain and
labour problems, but so too are the worldwide repair shops
needed to help airlines meet a sharper than expected recovery in
demand by keeping their existing aircraft in service.
The logjam in repair capacity has left dozens of planes
grounded as their engines are late coming out of overhaul, and
that in turn has created competition for engines between new
aircraft assembly lines and spares for the existing fleet.
At least one engine maker is experiencing renewed pressure
to shift more engines away from supporting aircraft production
to a pool of spares for existing customers, the sources said.
Airbus produces A320-neo family jets with a choice of
engines from General Electric and Safran joint
venture CFM International or Raytheon Technologies unit
Pratt & Whitney. Boeing uses solely CFM for its 737 family.
Data showing how many jets are unused because of maintenance
delays as opposed to economic or other reasons is not available.
But there are signs the total number of parked A320neo-family
jets has risen since early this year, led by Pratt versions,
even as demand for travel on such aircraft has been increasing.
Currently some 129 Pratt-powered Airbus jets and 55
fitted with CFM's LEAP engines are parked, according to Ascend
by Cirium's head of global consulting Rob Morris.
Neither engine maker had any immediate comment.
In October, Airbus and Safran struck a more upbeat note on
recently disrupted engine supplies than Boeing, which said
during quarterly earnings that engines were its main constraint.
At the same time, engine industry sources insist snags on
their side of the fence are not solely to blame for delays. One
executive denied any additional pressure on engine supplies.
Jetmakers have been facing difficulties getting other parts
on time including galleys and lavatories, one executive said.
In July, Airbus said it would reach an interim production
goal of 65 A320-family narrow-body jets a month in early 2024
instead of summer 2023. It targets 75 a month in 2025.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher
Editing by William Maclean, Alexander Smith and Frances Kerry)