By Tim Hepher
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -The head of Saudi budget carrier flyadeal criticised Airbus’ handling of delays of narrow-body jets and voiced concerns that disruption could spread to freshly ordered wide-body A330neos.
CEO Steven Greenway spoke out about delays on the sidelines of an IATA airline industry summit in New Delhi, just weeks after unveiling an order for 10 A330neo long-haul planes.
“Delays are becoming inexcusable. Transparency, to be frank, is lacking, and we’re getting agitated. How else can we plan? I mean it is just going beyond a joke now,” Greenway told Reuters.
A non-excusable delay is a term used in aircraft contracts to trigger specific penalties to airlines, but these are rare. Jetmakers have consistently argued that any delays caused by supply chain problems are “excusable,” industry sources say.
Airbus faces some internal industrial problems, he said.
Airbus declined to comment on the narrow-body delays. It has previously reported some improvement in supply chains and has said it is working to soften the impact on customers, while sticking to a target for 820 deliveries this year.
Flyadeal is also among several carriers affected by a separate slowdown in arrivals of engines from CFM on the Airbus assembly line.
“I have got two (narrow-body jets) sitting on the ground in Toulouse at the moment that have been there for a couple of months and I don’t have any resolution in sight,” Greenway said.
“We were meant to have four aircraft in the first half of the year. We’ve only had two, and even those two were delayed.”
The sister airline to Saudia is now due to have one A321neo delivered in the third quarter and three in the fourth quarter.
“But I’m very doubtful…the three in the last quarter are going to get across the line,” he said, adding: “Don’t forget, this is delays on top of delays.”
Safran, which co-owns CFM with GE Aerospace, said in April that CFM had seen improvements in supply chains and was poised to recover a slow start to 2025.
Greenway’s comments reflect mounting private frustration about widespread supply problems among airline CEOs gathering for their annual industry meeting.
He acknowledged that aerospace had been hit by a broad exodus of labour from the manufacturing sector after COVID-19, but added: “I do think it’s inexcusable that here we are three, four years later, and we still haven’t got over that hump.”
A330NEO UNCERTAINTY
Reuters reported last week that Airbus had warned airlines a pattern of delays would persist for another three years. Lessors have spoken of supply tensions for the rest of the decade.
Greenway raised concerns that similar problems could spread to the wide-body A330neo, after flyadeal unveiled an order for 10 of the upgraded long-haul jets in April. So far there have been no reports of delivery delays to the aircraft.
“Our (first) aircraft was meant to be on the final production line in December of next year. I don’t know if we’re going to see that or not,” he said.
Airbus said it was not aware of any A330neo delays.
Airlines say delays disrupt decisions that must be taken well ahead like pilot and crew training and adding routes.
“You can’t plan…If you take the wide-bodies, I’m now assuming there is going to be a delay. I’m having to go out and work with wet-lease operators to plug that gap,” Greenway said, referring to rentals of planes with crews.
Philippine budget airline Cebu Pacific said last week it would wet-lease two crewed A320s to flyadeal during its lean months in July and August, a busy period for the Saudi carrier.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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