Source The economics Times
TOULOUSE, FRANCE—Airbus is grappling with a new industrial quality problem involving fuselage panels on several dozen of its best-selling A320-family aircraft, industry sources reported on Monday. The discovery of the suspected manufacturing flaw comes just days after the company initiated a massive, unprecedented recall to fix a separate software glitch affecting the global A320 fleet.
The new quality issue, which Airbus has confirmed as a “supplier quality issue affecting a limited number” of metal panels, is reportedly confined to the production line and aircraft awaiting delivery, with no immediate indication of a safety risk to jets already in service.
Deliveries Face Delays
The need for inspections and potential repairs on the affected fuselage panels is causing further delays to the delivery schedule for the narrow-body jets. This places added pressure on the European planemaker, which is aggressively pushing to meet its ambitious year-end delivery target of around 820 aircraft.
In a brief statement, an Airbus spokeswoman confirmed the issue:
“Airbus confirms it has identified a supplier quality issue affecting a limited number of A320 metal panels. The source of the issue has been identified, contained and all newly produced panels conform to all requirements.”
The company added it is taking a “conservative approach” by inspecting all potentially impacted aircraft, though only a portion is expected to require further action.
Shares Tumble Amid Double Setback
The news sent Airbus’s shares tumbling by as much as 10% on Monday, as the new quality problem compounds the operational crisis caused by a separate, unrelated software vulnerability.
Late last week, the company alerted operators of its A320 family—including the A319, A320, and A321 models—to an issue where intense solar radiation could corrupt data in the aircraft’s Elevator Aileron Computer (ELAC), a flight-control system. This vulnerability was suspected of contributing to an uncommanded altitude drop on a JetBlue A320 flight in October.
While Airbus reported that the “vast majority” of the roughly 6,000 aircraft affected by the software vulnerability have now received the necessary fix (often a simple software rollback), the simultaneous emergence of the fuselage panel flaw underscores a challenging period for the aerospace giant.
Airlines worldwide had been forced to ground hundreds of jets over the weekend to implement the software patch, leading to widespread flight cancellations and delays, particularly during the busy Thanksgiving travel period in the United States.
