© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A prototype Pratt & Whitney GTF engine is on display at the 54th Paris International Air Show at Le Bourget airport near Paris, France, June 20, 2023. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Written by Allison Lambert and Valerie Ensina
PARIS (Reuters) – Jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney on Wednesday reported “strong progress” in its aerospace supply chain, addressing a key area of concern for planemakers as it continues to ramp up orders at the Paris Airshow.
The first two days of the world’s largest air show saw heavy orders from Indian airlines looking to capitalize on the rapid recovery in travel since the pandemic and expectations of continued strong growth in the world’s most populous country.
But recovering from COVID-19 has been more difficult for suppliers, who continue to struggle with high costs, spare parts shortages and a dearth of skilled labor.
That has raised concerns about whether aircraft carriers Airbus and Boeing (NYSE: NYSE) will be able to meet ambitious targets to ramp up production in order to meet customer delivery targets.
This week’s orders from India alone – for 500 narrow-body Airbus jets from budget carrier IndiGo and a deal for 470 aircraft each for Airbus and Boeing from Air India – add nearly 1,000 aircraft to the industry’s backlog.
Pratt & Whitney, a unit of RTX Corporation – formerly Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: ), has had a particularly tough time due in part to GTF engine problems that grounded several aircraft.
The company said Wednesday that grounding operations peaked at 10% of the GTF-powered fleet in the first half of this year, and that percentage will trend lower through the rest of the year.
GTF is one of two engine options to power the best-selling narrow-body Airbus A320neo.
Pratt & Whitney President Shane Eddy, who has faced backlash from airlines over durability issues and a lack of spare engines, told the airshow he sees “strong progress” in the supply chain.
He added that the company has the capacity to support the maintenance request but is facing a shortage of materials.
More deals
Aircraft makers also face tight job markets as they strive to ramp up production, but Airbus said on Wednesday it had filled more than 7,000 jobs out of the 13,000 it aims to add this year.
The European company and its US rival Boeing continued to sign new deals at the airshow.
Aircraft leasing company Avolon has signed a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of 20 Airbus A330neo wide-body aircraft.
Airbus is also expected to be close to a potentially big deal with Mexico’s Viva Aerobus, although by Monday some sources predicted volume could be closer to 60 aircraft than the three figures first reported, with no guarantee of an outcome. this week.
Meanwhile, Boeing won an order for four 737 Max jets from India’s Aksa Air, confirming an earlier Reuters story, while Luxembourg subsidiary Luxembourg also ordered four 737 Max jets.