A shortage of engines has continued to strain operations at manufacturing and maintenance facilities in the aerospace sector. With the manufacture of new aircrafts slowed due to missing parts and demand for maintenance services higher than ever as airlines are forced to keep older planes in service longer, the impact of the manufacturing and maintenance delays is starting to reach passengers and forwarders as well.
Flight cancellations have been limited to a relatively small number of routes; however, the scale of cancellations will likely continue to increase if the manufacturing and maintenance delays persist as airlines have to adjust schedules to account for a lower-than-expected number of available aircrafts. As the number of flight cancellations increases, the air cargo sector is bound to be affected as well. Fewer flights could cause price increases, supply shortages, and missed production targets, particularly in industries such as pharmaceuticals, electronics, and perishable goods, which rely on moving finished goods and components via air.
Several engine makers face supply disruptions and quality issues
Several major engine manufacturers have been facing manufacturing related issues throughout the past year that show few signs of being resolved any time soon. Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of RTX Corporation, is currently dealing with a sweeping recall and inspection program of its geared turbofan (GTF) engine series that powers the Airbus A320 neo airplanes. The number of grounded jets peaked at more than 600 in April, but hundreds of airplane remain subject to quality controls, with the entire recall expected to last well into 2026. The recall was triggered by the discovery of a metal powder defect that can cause cracks in engine components.
Rolls-Royce Holdings plc has continued to struggle with issues related to the longevity of its Trent engine family. In the short-term, an internal task force including engineers, supply chain and planning experts is trying to address supply backlogs. In the long-term, the company hopes to fix the quality issues by investing around £1 billion (€1.2 billion / $963 million) into its manufacturing lines that are meant to improve fuel efficiency and general durability of the affected engine types. Despite these plans, some industry representatives still expect these issues to persist for another two years.
Meanwhile, GE Aerospace is facing significant delays in producing and delivering new engines at all. At the end of October, the company claimed that the delays in its engine deliveries are linked to operational delays at more than a dozen of its sub-tier suppliers. To address these problems, the company has sent hundreds of engineers to the production plants of its suppliers to find and resolve potential manufacturing bottlenecks, but it remains unclear how long it will take to address the operational challenges at so many different sub-tier suppliers. GE Aerospace makes a range of jet engines, including the most used turbofan aircraft engine in the world, which it manufactures through CFM International Inc., a joint venture with Safran SA.
Lack of engines slows down aircraft production at Airbus SE and Boeing Company
As engine makers struggle to meet delivery targets, Airbus SE and the Boeing Company, the world’s two biggest airplane makers, have been unable to step up production output to accommodate record breaking demand for new aircrafts.
Jet deliveries have also slowed down at Embraer S.A., the world’s third largest civilian aircraft manufacturer, mostly driven by a shortage of new engines and other structural parts. According to a company statement in November, the delays mainly affect the assembly of its E-Jet E2 family. Embraer’s E190-E2 and E195-E2 jets use the PW1000G-series geared turbofan (GTF) engines made by Pratt & Whitney. The ongoing recall of these engines not only grounded in-service aircrafts, but it also increased the demand for spare engines at maintenance facilities at a time when Embraer S.A. as well as Airbus SE were hoping to increase production of new aircrafts using the GTF engines.
Some manufacturing impacts have also been reported in the defense sector in 2024, albeit more sporadically. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has struggled to ramp up production of HAL Tejas combat aircrafts for the Indian Air Force, in part because GE Aerospace was unable to supply the agreed number of GE-F404 turbofan jet engines. Supply of these engines was initially expected to start in 2023 but has reportedly been pushed back to at least March 2025. Engine delivery delays were also confirmed in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program in the United States but have reportedly not impacted final assembly of the fighter jets yet.
In addition to issues such as component shortages, jet production at Boeing Company has been severely hampered by a series of internal problems. Earlier this year, the Federal Aviation Administration in the U.S. placed a limit on how many aircrafts the company is allowed to make as it investigates a range of quality and safety concerns along its manufacturing process that came to light after a door plug blew off a plane in midflight a year ago. In mid-September operations were disrupted further when more than 33.000 machinists went on strike to demand a pay raise. The strike temporarily halted production of the company’s 737, 767, and 777 jets and slowed operations at sub-tier supplier. The strike ended on November 4, but operations at Boeing’s affected production lines only began to resume around December 6, more than a month later.
Airlines across the world are increasingly seeing the impact of these manufacturing and delivery delays on their flight operations. Due to the growing shortage of new aircrafts, some airlines have been unable to expand jet capacity at the rate needed to meet customer demand. At the same time, airlines are forced to spend large amounts of money to keep flying older, less fuel-efficient jet models for longer. Some of these costs are driven by the need for more frequent routine maintenance and downtime of older aircrafts. Even some newer aircrafts are likely to be subject to maintenance-related downtime earlier than airlines had anticipated after some of the newer, more fuel-efficient engines turned out to need maintenance work done earlier than expected, driving up demand for these services as well.
Meanwhile, many maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities are struggling to meet this growing demand for their services due to persistent worker and component shortages, resulting in longer turnaround times. Compared to pre-pandemic levels, MRO times are estimated to have increased by roughly 35% for older and by 150% for new generation engines in recent years. Even the wait times to get a maintenance slot in the first place have reportedly risen by around 2-3 months, with up to 6 months reported in some cases.
Some manufacturers and airlines invested into in-house repair capabilities and implemented stricter quality controls to address the engine-related problems and reduce the maintenance backlog of in-service aircrafts. American Airlines expanded its in-house repair capabilities to get around delays at external facilities. Engine overhauls at its maintenance facility at Tulsa International Airport in Oklahoma, United States, could increase by as much as 60% as a result. The airline is reportedly trying to finish overhauls in around 60 days, around half the time often needed by outside operators. Meanwhile, engine maker Pratt & Whitney has opened several new maintenance workshops and expanded repair capacity at existing ones to speed up the recall process of its geared turbofan engines. Production of new components made with a defect-free metal power has also picked up since the issue was discovered last year, however, delayed spare parts have reportedly still slowed down engine overhauls in 2024.
As a result of the aircraft capacity constraints caused by these manufacturing issues and maintenance delays, a growing number of airlines has been forced to adjust existing and planned flight schedules. Air New Zealand and British Airways, the flag carriers of New Zealand and the United Kingdom, pushed back plans to launch new flight routes due to aircraft capacity shortages. Meanwhile, Malaysia’s flag carrier Malaysia Airlines ended up grounding around 20% of its fleet until the end of 2024 due to durability issues with the CFM56 engines that power its Boeing 737-800 jets and forced the carrier to shorten in-service cycles from 21,000 to a maximum of 17,900 cycles before a plane will undergo maintenance. At the same time, the airline now faces wait times of up to 100 days instead of around 65 to 70 days for repair and maintenance work to be completed. Other airlines that had to adjust flight schedules included Emirates, Ryanair and flydubai, with the list likely to grow as neither the manufacturing nor the maintenance delays are expected to be resolved in the coming months.
Manufacturing issues and maintenance delays put air cargo transport at risk of disruptions
While it remains unclear how much cargo was impacted by these flight cancellations, the air cargo sector is bound to feel the impact if the manufacturing issues and maintenance delays persist for a prolonged period of time. More flight cancellations would impact delivery schedules in the air freight sector, which could cause price increases, supply shortages, and missed production targets in industries particularly reliant on air transport to move time sensitive or high value goods and components such as pharmaceuticals, perishable goods and electronics. If the capacity situation deteriorates, freight forwarders could also see operational costs increase as fewer flights limit cargo space and intensify competition for available slots.
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