Supply chain issues that have dogged the delivery of new aircraft around the world could stretch into 2026, according to International Air Transport Association (Iata) director-general Willie Walsh.
“Our assessment is that it’s not getting worse but it’s not getting better either,” Walsh said in an interview with Bloomberg Television at the Iata annual meeting in Dubai on Sunday (Jun 2). “I see these problems continuing certainly through this year, 2025 and probably into 2026.”
Some airline chief executives are “incredibly frustrated” at their inability to get the jets that they’ve ordered into service, and “that is delaying growth plans and growth opportunities that they have”, he said.
Boeing and Airbus, which together control the vast majority of airplane manufacturing, have been grappling with supply chain issues such as parts and labour that were only exacerbated by the Covid pandemic. Now, the wait time for new jets stretches into “several months and in some cases, years”, Walsh said.
Asked whether those supply chain headaches take the focus away from other pressing challenges facing the global aviation industry, such as achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, Walsh said they did not.
“There is still very much a focus on sustainability,” he said, noting that chiefly, the concerns centre around the inadequate supply of sustainable aviation fuel.
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Walsh cited France as one example where stick-like approaches aren’t working, with fuel suppliers simply passing on the penalties for not providing enough sustainable aviation fuel to airlines.
“It’s having zero environmental impact and it’s having a negative economic impact.” BLOOMBERG
