Delivery delays, engine woes scramble airline plans

If the story of the pandemic was a shortage of passengers and a surplus of planes, the post-pandemic story is turning out to be the opposite, as airlines juggle schedules and keep older planes flying.

It sometimes seems like a perfect storm of issues. Boeing’s problems with getting its 777X series and remaining models of the 737 certified are well-known, but Airbus is also way behind on deliveries, mostly caused by issues with two engines that some of its planes rely on.

Many airlines are keeping older, less economical planes going while waiting for replacements; Lufthansa, for example, has more 747s and A380s flying than it wants to because of the 777X delays. Others have been affected by delays with the Rolls Royce engine used in the A350-1000.

And it’s not just delivery delays that are making airline chiefs tear their hair out; problems with engines on existing fleets are grounding planes for extended maintenance. JetBlue, for one example has had an average of 11 planes at a time grounded for months-long maintenance on Pratt & Whitney engines used on the A220 and A321.

Major customers of Boeing’s 737, including Ryanair and Alaska, which operate all-737 fleets have had to curtail schedules and fleet expansion plans while production has slowed, and at points stopped.

For airlines, though, there’s not much they can do at this point but wait, with increasing impatience. They can’t even switch orders to another supplier, in the short run, as Boeing and Airbus are both booked up for years, and neither can control the situation with the three major engine suppliers.

For passengers, it could mean, for the next while, fewer seats on some routes, and higher ticket prices to cover increased costs.

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