The Canadian manufacturing plant of Airbus has been faced with significant supply chain issues in the past few months leading many to believe that the manufacturer will fall short of meeting its A220 production goals. Despite this speculation, the head of Airbus Canada has declared that it can meet and exceed all target production rates.

Declaration of productivity

Airbus has been producing its newest family member, the Airbus A220, for several years. Like all aircraft manufacturers, Airbus was affected by the pandemic and supply chain shortages. Despite these setbacks, Airbus has continued production and delivered a sizable number of A220s in the past year. However, in the year's second half, more supply chain issues caught up with A220 production, dramatically reducing production levels.

Photo: Airbus

Throughout 2022 Airbus produced a total of 53 A220s, representing an average of 4.4 jets per month. The President and CEO of Airbus Canada, Benoît Schultz, shared that A220 production will continue to grow as production is optimized and enhanced. Schultz told CTV News Montreal that production numbers would likely exceed six aircraft per month this year, saying,

"We've proven that we're capable of reaching the six-aircraft rate and we have activities to accelerate beyond six in 2023."

Airbus does not plan to stop increasing production rates when it reaches this short-term goal of six aircraft per month, with plans to exceed 14 A220s per month by 2025. By then, it will endeavor to produce 10 A220s per month at its manufacturing plant in Mirabel, Quebec, and four per month in Mobile, Alabama. Schultz recently told CTV News the following,

"We have a plan that works to make 14 planes per month: 10 in Mirabel, [and] four in Mobile in Alabama in the middle of the decade, even after the adjustments to production to mitigate the difficulties of the supply chain that we have done recently."

Supply chain delays

Since the pandemic hit, the aviation industry has been plagued by supply chain shortages and blockages. These have hit the aircraft manufacturing companies hard, severely delaying some deliveries, including having an effect on A220 production delays in late 2022. While aircraft were being pushed through the manufacturing process, workers found themselves short of many necessary airplane components, including engines.

Photo: Denver International Airport

These supply shortages required staff to be flexible and complete what they could with the parts available. Several airplanes needed to be set aside while awaiting parts so the facility could continue production and avoid any bottlenecks. In late December, A spokesperson from Airbus told Leeham News and Analysis that, while delays were present, it was working to improve the situation stating,

"In order to protect our operations in a complex environment, some ad hoc short-term planning adjustments have been made to align with our supply chain in order to protect our deliveries to our committed customers. We continue to focus on the aircraft that are almost ready for delivery in 2022 and there is no shutdown either of FALs nor pre-FALs planned."

Production lines remain in operation. According to Schultz, adjustments were made at the manufacturing plants enabling them to catch up to projected production rates reaffirming the declaration that A220 deliveries will be on track for this year and continue to grow year over year.

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Source: Leeham News, CTV News Montreal