Exclusive-Airbus delays some A220 output, narrowing window to reach 2026 target

By Allison Lampert and Tim Hepher

MONTREAL/PARIS (Reuters) -Airbus has pushed back the assembly of some of its small A220 jets this year and next, and may only hit its 2026 target of producing 14 A220s a month in the final weeks of that year, three industry sources said on Monday.

Airbus has long said it would attain that monthly target at some point in 2026, but supply glitches mean the milestone is now not expected to be reached before December 2026, leaving limited margin for further delay, the sources added.

On its way to the full target, Airbus has set an internal production-rate steppingstone of 12 jets a month by mid-2026, up from seven to eight a month now, they said.

But the sources warned that A220 factories in the United States and Canada still face supply challenges, creating some uncertainty around both targets.

A spokesperson for Airbus' Canadian division referred to the European planemaker's existing production target and declined further comment ahead of earnings on Wednesday. The spokesperson also declined comment on the company's internal briefings.

Airbus acquired control of its smallest commercial jet, which has 110 to 130 seats, from Canadian planemaker Bombardier in 2018. Despite active sales, the plane continues to lose money, and expanding production is crucial to cutting the cost of producing each plane, which shares few parts with other models.

The sources said the latest delays involved a handful of jets being taken out of the production schedule in 2025 and almost 10 in total next year.    

The delays come after the Quebec government wrote down C$400 million of its 25% stake in the A220 program. Airbus owns the remaining 75%.

Quebec Economy Minister Christine Frechette has said the losses stem from trade tensions and fragile supply chains.

DELIVERY GOAL

At A220 plants near Montreal, Canada, and Mobile, Alabama, workers struggle with shortages of parts from suppliers, including engines, and errors on the line, the three sources said. 

Last year, Reuters reported that Airbus had intervened to speed up the supply of wings for the A220 by airlifting parts from a Belfast, Northern Ireland factory. 

One of the sources said some of the delays still result from a shortage of wings. Airbus has agreed to take over Spirit AeroSystems' wings production as part of a joint rescue plan with Boeing for the troubled supplier.

While fine-tuning production plans for the A220 over the next 14 months, Airbus is taking steps to protect deliveries of the jet in the short term, two of the sources said. 

Former Airbus Canada chief Benoit Schultz urged workers in September to reach an internal target of 100 handovers of A220 jets to airlines in 2025, up by one-third, they said.

To support this, some Quebec workers have been shifted from the A220 assembly line to help fix problems in the final stages of the handover process, one of the sources said.    

Airbus has said it delivered 62 A220s in the first nine months of the year, but it does not break down its group-wide full-year target of 820 deliveries by individual model.        

(Editing by Joe Brock and Cynthia Osterman)