Airbus is late

First delivery of the Airbus A320neo has been postponed until 2016 because of “documentation issues”. The delay means the neo missed a long-planned delivery target of late 2015.

Very recently Airbus and launch customer Lufthansa insisted the first delivery of the re-engined aircraft would take place at the end of 2015.

But on 30 December both issued statements confirming the delivery date had slipped to January.

In early October, the first Pratt & Whitney powered A320neo suffered minor damage during an incident during hot-weather testing in the Middle East.  Fabrice Brégier, CEO of Airbus, later said the engine incident was not technical and was more about the life of the engine. 

There is a choice of engines for the neo, with the new CFM International LEAP being the other option. Both were EASA and FAA certified in November. After the test incident there was a switch of launch customer from Qatar Airways to Lufthansa but both have gone for the P & W engine.

More than 4,400 orders have been logged for the neo, which Airbus says will deliver 15% fuel-savings over the A320ceo and 20% by 2020. It competes with the re-engined Boeing 737 MAX, which is sole-sourced powered by the CFM LEAP-1B.  www.airbus.com    www.pw.utc.com/press/listing

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