Commercial aircraft manufacturer, Airbus has blamed ‘severe bottlenecks’ for the delays experienced in delivery of the A350 and A320neo family aircraft to customers.

According to the manufacturer, the delays could stretch from one month to four years.

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Explaining the delay, in a communication to airline executives, Lars Wagner, CEO of Airbus’ Commercial Aircraft Division, said that the A350 delivery hitch are expected to extend to 2030 and the A320neo family issues will impact schedules until 2028.

“We never comment on delivery timelines agreed with customers,” Wagner said, as he further provided reasons on the delay on the issues on each program.

‘On the A350 side, Airbus made a full assessment of the former Spirit AeroSystems sites recently acquired and concluded that the former owner had not made adequate investments in tooling and infrastructure.

“Also, a higher number of staff than expected has left the organization in the transition from Spirit to Airbus, leaving the manufacturer with fewer people than required. As it stands nows, valuable time has been lost,” disclosed the Airbus executive.

For the A320neo family, Wagner cited delayed CFM International Leap-1A deliveries, a shortage of Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines, and the fallout of the forward fuselage panel rework needed after a quality issue with one supplier was discovered late last year as the main reasons. According to Airbus, a combination of these factors has caused ‘severe bottlenecks’ in the final assembly lines.

It would be recalled that Airbus delivered only 136 A320neo family aircraft in the first four months of 2026, an average of 34 per month, because of the issues. In 2025, the monthly output averaged just over 50 units.

Airbus targets a monthly production rate of 70-75 A320 family aircraft by the end of 2027. The manufacturer has handed over 15 A350s since the beginning of the year, or just below four on average per month. Its nominal rate is planned to be around six per month.

In 2025, Airbus delivered 57 A350s, or under five on a monthly average. Airbus targets a rate of 12 A350s per month in 2028. Wagner has talked about his wish to go well beyond that rate in the following years.