Qantas Group has become the latest airline to confirm it is facing supply-chain and aircraft delivery delays. During its first-half results presentation on Thursday, the carrier acknowledged that the later-than-scheduled arrival of new narrowbody jets from Airbus has forced it to turn to the second-hand and wet-lease market to help restore fleet capacity back to pre-Covid levels and meet surging demand. CEO Alan Joyce told reporters the company has been able to effectively limit the manufacturing delays to “less than six months” with Airbus.
The Australian flag carrier has a large order for 299 next-generation A220 and A320neo family aircraft—half of which are firm orders and half are purchase right options—after combining an existing order of 109 A320s (plus purchase rights) for its budget carrier Jetstar with a new firm order, placed in May 2022, for 20 A321XLRs and 20 A220-300s, to start the renewal of Qantas’s narrowbody fleet. Last year’s order also included an additional 94 purchase right options spread across A320 and A220 families, with flexibility on delivery timing (over 10-plus years) and aircraft type.
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