Authors: Tim Heffer, Alison Lambert and David Shepherdson
PARIS, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Airbus received a brutal reminder this week that even the world’s most-delivered jet – the A320 – is not immune to shocks as diverse as solar flares and defective metal.
Days after recalling 6,000 A320 family aircraft due to a software glitch linked to cosmic radiation, the European giant was forced to slash delivery targets due to defects in some fuselage panels.
The two setbacks – one stemming from astrophysics, the other from basic metallurgy – underscore how fragile success can be for a plane maker that dominates the busiest segment of the aviation industry and is on track to overtake Boeing for the seventh consecutive year.
“When we leave one thing behind, we hit another,” Chief Executive Guillaume Faury told Reuters as he weighed how many aircraft could be affected by the panel thickness issue.
“Icarus Error”
In a surprise move, Airbus on Friday issued instructions to airlines to revert to a previous version of the software that controls computer nose angles on some aircraft. A few weeks ago, a JetBlue A320 tilted downward, injuring about 12 people on board.
The company blames the problem on vulnerability to solar flares, which could theoretically cause the plane to pitch downward — a collision with the sun reminiscent of Greek mythology, when airlines were scrambling to fix a flaw nicknamed the “Icarus Error.”
The rollback came faster than expected, but within days Airbus encountered a more humdrum problem that threatened to shorten the year-end rush for aircraft deliveries: the discovery of a defective fuselage panel.
The glitch, first reported by Reuters on Monday, led to a sharp sell-off in the company’s shares as investors pondered how the company would meet its already precarious delivery targets for this year.
Within 48 hours, Airbus had slashed its target by 4% and confirmed on Friday that deliveries had slowed in November.
The two unrelated setbacks come just weeks after the A320 family, which includes the best-selling A321, surpassed the recently troubled Boeing 737 MAX to become the most-delivered airliner in history.
“Airbus is all about the A321 right now,” said Agency Partners analyst Sash Tusa. “The extreme focus on a single model has both advantages and disadvantages.”
The broader A320 mid-range family accounts for most of Airbus’ sales and “the vast majority” of profits, he said, adding that there were inconsistencies between Airbus lowering delivery targets and maintaining financial forecasts.
Airbus shares have fallen about 3% this week, after falling as much as 11% on Monday.
