Airbus Faces A Pair of A320 Quality Issues Over the Course of a Few Days
Major components of the A320 are assembled at Airbus factories in Europe and shipped to the United States for final assembly. Illustration courtesy Airbus
PARIS—Airbus has confirmed a new industrial quality issue affecting metal fuselage panels on a limited number of A320-family aircraft, marking another setback for its best-selling jet just days after a major software recall.
According to industry sources, the defects involve fuselage panels supplied by an unnamed vendor and impact roughly 50 aircraft currently in production. Airbus said the issue has been identified, contained, and resolved for all newly manufactured panels. There is no indication that any affected parts have reached aircraft already in service.
News of the problem sent Airbus shares down nearly 6% yesterday after initially dropping as much as 11%. The discovery follows the weekend grounding of over half the global A320 fleet for a rapid software update intended to address vulnerability to solar flares. Fewer than 100 aircraft still require deeper hardware checks.
The additional quality issue comes as Airbus races to hit its ambitious 2025 delivery target of around 820 aircraft. Industry sources say the company handed over 72 jets in November, bringing year-to-date totals to 657—below analyst expectations and leaving an astronomical task of more than 160 deliveries in December.
Some airline customers, including Lufthansa and easyJet, saw their shares slip amid concerns about potential delays. The scale of delivery disruption will depend on where the faulty panels are located and the extent of the repairs required. Airbus noted that only a portion of the affected aircraft will require further action.
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