On Wednesday, Pratt & Whitney, a manufacturer of jet engines, noted “solid progress” in the aerospace supply chain, addressing a significant area of worry for aircraft manufacturers as they continue to tally orders at the Paris Airshow.

Huge orders from Indian airlines seeking to capitalise on a quick recovery in travel following the pandemic and projections for ongoing strong growth in the world’s most populous nation have been placed during the first two days of the largest aviation show in history.

However, suppliers have had more difficulty recovering from COVID-19 since they continue to face growing costs, a shortage of parts, and a workforce shortage.

This has caused some people to wonder if aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing will be able to achieve their lofty production expansion plans in time to satisfy customer delivery deadlines.

The industry backlog has increased by about 1,000 planes as a result of orders this week from India alone, including 500 Airbus narrowbody jets from low-cost carrier IndiGo and a 470-plane agreement for both Airbus and Boeing jets signed by Air India.

A division of RTX formerly known as Raytheon Technologies, Pratt & Whitney has had a particularly difficult time as a result of issues with its GTF engine that have caused the grounding of multiple aircraft.

In the first half of this year, 10% of the GTF-powered fleet had groundings, according to the business, and during the balance of the year, that number will decline.

The best-selling A320neo narrowbody aeroplane from Airbus has two engine choices, the GTF being one of them.

Shane Eddy, president of Pratt & Whitney, who has come under fire from airlines for durability issues and a lack of replacement engines, stated at the air show that he was witnessing “solid progress” in the supply chain.

Although the business has the capacity to meet demand for repair, he added, there are material shortages.

In their efforts to increase production, planemakers also confront a manpower shortage, but Airbus reported on Wednesday that it has filled more than 7,000 of the 13,000 posts it intended to create this year.

Both the American competitor Boeing and the European firm kept closing fresh deals at the air show.

An agreement to purchase 20 widebody Airbus A330neo aircraft was signed by aeroplane leasing business Avolon.

Although by Monday some sources were anticipating the volume could be closer to 60 jets than the triple digits previously reported, with no guarantee of a decision this week, Airbus is also said to be close to a potentially significant contract with Mexico’s Viva Aerobus.

While this was going on, Reuters reported that Luxair, the flag carrier of Luxembourg, had also placed an order for four 737 MAX aircraft with Boeing.

(Adapted from Reuters.com)

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