Turbulent times: Airbus struggles with setbacks across fleet; Boeing stages comeback, exposes industry contrast

Airbus has been grappling with a fresh wave of setbacks, highlighting the mounting strain on its sprawling but fragile supply chain. The past week offered a stark reminder that the planemaker is not immune to the production troubles affecting the wider aviation industry, where supply shortages and labour gaps persist even years after the pandemic ended.Early Wednesday, the planemaker was forced to cut its long-standing aircraft delivery target for the year after discovering that a lesser-known Spanish supplier had provided out-of-specification aircraft panels, a blow that highlighted how vulnerable the €155-billion ($181-billion) manufacturer remains to disruptions among smaller vendors.

Last Friday, Airbus issued an urgent directive for a software update across approximately 6,000 A320 aircraft, its flagship fleet, after identifying a potential fault in the interface between onboard computers and the flight-control system.Three days later, Airbus revealed a quality issue involving metal panels used in the fuselage of the same jet, triggering the need for detailed inspections of more than 600 aircraft already in service or at various stages of production.“The pressures of quarterly results, sometimes the pressures of competition, probably the quality drops a little bit,” Tony Fernandes, founder of AirAsia, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. “It’s a good warning for everybody.”The one-two setback this week rattled investors, leading to Airbus’s worst trading day since April. The contrast was especially stark as Boeing, buoyed by a renewed optimism over its financial recovery, posted its strongest stock gains in months.On Tuesday, Boeing offered a series of upbeat forecasts, from increased deliveries of its 737 and 787 jets next year to a long-awaited return to positive cash flow after years of heavy outflows. Investors welcomed the outlook, sending the US plane maker’s shares up by as much as 10 per cent, as cited by Bloomberg. Boeing has been slowly pulling itself out of a years-long crisis that began in late 2018 with the first of two fatal crashes, deepened during the Covid-19 pandemic, and worsened again in early 2024 when lapses in workmanship led to another near-disaster mid-flight. The situation was compounded further late last year, when a debilitating strike brought production to a standstill for weeks and drained the company’s resources.Since then, however, the storied US manufacturer has staged a steady comeback under new CEO Kelly Ortberg, who has overhauled management and set a sharper operational direction. Boeing has also benefited from strong backing from the White House, with the US president frequently leveraging aircraft orders in global negotiations and trade discussions.Airbus’ recent setbacks are still unlikely to reach the scale of Boeing’s turmoil last year. The company has already resolved the software issue over the weekend, minimising operational disruptions, and says most of the fuselage panels under inspection are expected to be compliant.However, the revised delivery timeline will leave some airlines waiting even longer for their aircraft, even as carriers rush to upgrade their fleets to keep pace with surging global travel demand.With China’s bid to challenge the long-standing duopoly still in its early stages, the fortunes of Airbus and Boeing remain tightly intertwined.Now, as Airbus targets a monthly production rate of 75 A320-family aircraft by 2027 and Boeing boosts output of its bestselling 737, both manufacturers face the same pressure: scaling up while preserving quality and ensuring that a fragile global supply chain can support their ambitions.