Airbus on Wednesday revised its 2025 delivery target down to about 790 commercial aircraft, 30 fewer than previously planned. The company, however, said its financial guidance remains unchanged despite a quality issue identified in its A320 aircraft family. The world’s largest planemaker is placing delays as its engineering teams expand inspections of A320 fuselage panels after detecting defects across broader sets of jets than initially expected.
Panel defects found across hundreds of A320 jets
Internal checks, as reviewed by Reuters, showed that engineers discovered structural inconsistencies in fuselage panels supplied by Sofitec Aero of Seville. The parts were produced with incorrect thickness because of issues in the stretching and milling process. A presentation to airlines indicates Airbus will need to probe hundreds of A320-family aircraft. With around 40% still on assembly lines.
As per the report, the quality issue has added pressure on November deliveries. CEO Guillaume Faury confirmed that the panel had already slowed output, and industry sources told Reuters that the company delivered 72 aircraft last month, which is lower than it was expected. Despite the operational disruptions, Airbus stated that its financial targets continue to be unchanged. The A320 family recently surpassed Boeing’s 737 as the most delivered jet model in aviation history, Reuters added.
628 aircraft affected
Bloomberg reported that Airbus informed customers that 628 A320 financial aircraft contain fuselage panels that are either too thick or too thin. Of these, 168 jets are in service, with the remaining in various stages of production. The panel also discovered Airbus’s largest ever software recall, after a cosmic radiation-related error was found to potentially affect flight controls on thousands of A320s. The rapid succession of technical issues unsettled investors, resulting in Airbus’s sharpest trading drop since April.
Despite these challenges, Bloomberg confirmed that Airbus has kept its financial guidance unchanged, even as supply chain issues continue to impact both Airbus and rival Boeing.