Engine makers have no quick fix for supply chain issues

The supply chain issues from which the commercial engine makers are suffering will likely extend well into 2023 and could even last until the end of next year. This warning comes on July 28 from Safran, the aerospace giant that partly owns CFM International. Earlier this week, Raytheon said that there is no quick fix to the supply issues at its subsidiary Pratt & Whitney. Engine makers have no quick fix for supply chain issues 

The comments from both engine makers confirm why Airbus has no option but to delay the ramp-up

of the A320neo to 65 aircraft per month by some six months from mid-2023 to early 2024, as the airframer announced on Wednesday. Boeing CEO David Calhoun said the same day that a rate increase on the MAX beyond the current 31 per month is out of the question, as long as CFM can’t deliver the numbers.

Airbus colleague Guillaume Faury told media on Wednesday that supply chain problems and production rates had been the topic of extensive discussions with all engine makers at last week’s Farnborough Airshow. All said that there is no quick solution, as was confirmed by Safran Group’s Olivier Andries in an earnings call this morning. “We are late on our LEAP deliveries, but we have reached the through and are now catching up on our backlog progressively. It is a challenge considering the supply chain issues. Are we going to come back by the end of the year? This is a challenge. Frankly speaking, I think that the supply chain issues are going to probably until 2023 and maybe until the end of 2023,” said Andries, who referred to the current supply chain situation as “very fragile”, notably in the US. Earlier this year, he said that CFM is ready for higher rates which Airbus had planned.