Airbus is facing renewed production pressure, with supply chain issues and industrial organization challenges expected to affect deliveries of A350 and A320neo family aircraft for several more years. According to information reported by Aviation Week, the European manufacturer has informed customers of new delivery delays, with the scale of the impact differing by program.
For the A320neo family, the delays are expected to range from one to two months, according to Aviation Week’s sources, with the impact on delivery schedules potentially lasting until 2028. For the widebody A350, the average delay is estimated at around one month, although the issues could continue until 2030.
Airbus declined to officially comment on individual customer agreements. “We never comment on delivery timelines agreed with customers,” the company told Aviation Week.
According to the same source, Lars Wagner, CEO of Airbus’ commercial aircraft division, cited different reasons for the problems affecting the two programs in communication with airline executives. For the A320neo family, the main pressures are coming from several directions: delayed CFM International Leap-1A engine deliveries, a shortage of Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines, and the consequences of rework on forward fuselage panels after a quality issue was discovered late last year at one supplier.
The combination of these factors, in Wagner’s words as reported by Aviation Week, has created serious bottlenecks on the final assembly lines. This has already affected the pace of deliveries. Airbus delivered 136 A320neo family aircraft in the first four months of 2026, an average of 34 per month. In 2025, the average monthly pace was just over 50 aircraft. Despite this, Airbus is still targeting an increase in A320 family production to 70 to 75 aircraft per month by the end of 2027.
On the A350 program, the problems are different in nature. Aviation Week reports that after the recent acquisition of former Spirit AeroSystems sites, Airbus carried out a full assessment and concluded that the previous owner had not invested sufficiently in tooling and infrastructure. Another issue is a higher than expected number of employees leaving during the transition from Spirit to Airbus, leaving the manufacturer with fewer staff than required. Wagner, according to Aviation Week, admitted to customers that “valuable time has been lost.”
Since the beginning of the year, Airbus has delivered 15 A350 aircraft, or just under four per month. The planned nominal production rate is around six aircraft per month. In 2025, Airbus delivered 57 A350s, which was below five aircraft per month on average.
The manufacturer’s ambitions remain significantly higher than the current pace. Airbus is targeting an A350 production rate of 12 aircraft per month in 2028, while Wagner has previously spoken about his ambition to go beyond that level in the following years. However, according to Aviation Week, the latest warnings to customers show that the path toward those goals will be marked by further constraints and extended delivery timelines.
