Airbus Quality Escape leads to Delivery Shortfall

Airbus reported on Monday that it has discovered another quality escape, this one concerning metal fuselage panels on A320 family aircraft.  Those quality issues have apparently impacted the delivery of several A320 family aircraft, just as Airbus needs a record-level delivery push to meet its delivery target for 2025.  It remains doubtful that Airbus will meet its delivery target for the year, with only 30 more days left in the year, as it needs to deliver more than 160 jets in December, which would break its monthly delivery record of 138 set in December 2019.

Quality Escape?

Quality doesn’t escape, but “quality escape” is a nice euphemism for someone’s mistake.  In this case, it could be materials, work performed by suppliers, or a lack of testing diligence at Airbus itself – but somewhere down the line somebody made a mistake or multiple mistakes.  In aviation, everything needs to be checked, and double-checked for safety, something that is built into the process.  In this case it was found before any in-service aircraft were impacted, which is how the system should work.

A company spokesperson stated “Airbus confirms it has identified a supplier quality issue, affecting a limited number of A320 metal panels,” according to a company spokesperson.  “Airbus is taking a conservative approach and is inspecting all aircraft potentially impacted — knowing that only a portion of them will need further action to be taken.  The source of the issue has been identified, contained, and all new panels conform to all requirements.”

Airbus did identify the issue quickly, and took immediate action.  But the timing was unfortunate.  This comes on the heels of an Airworthiness Directive last week that required operators to replace software for the aileron and rudder control computer that could be negatively impacted by high levels of solar radiation.  Fortunately, the vast majority of the 6,000 aircraft implicated in last Friday’s regulatory action completed those actions over the weekend and have returned to service.

The Bottom Line

Airbus has had an excellent record on quality, but has experienced two glitches in short order, shaking confidence in the aircraft maker’s quality system.  The latest “quality escape” will likely result in delayed deliveries and impact Airbus ability to meet its annual goals.  We have been predicting a shortfall given the lower than anticipated levels of deliveries and 5+ aircraft per day pace required in December to meet its goals, and track daily production and deliveries in our data model accessible to AirInsight subscribers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Views: 0

About The Author