European planemaker Airbus has reportedly told its suppliers to prepare for an imminent uptick in demand, possibly as early as July 2021, in anticipation of a post-COVID recovery in demand.
Airbus has told its supply chain to prepare for a conditional 18 per cent hike in production of its popular single-aisle A320 jet family, which will see it increase its monthly production output by seven jets.
The planemaker has reportedly asked suppliers to “protect” a production rate of 47 A320-family jets a month, up seven from its current output of 40, and said it wants its suppliers to be prepared to support that rate when necessary.
The manufacturer has earmarked July 2021 as a potential date to begin increasing its A320 output.
“For the A320 family, we plan to maintain ‘rate 40’ until summer next year and we have asked the supply chain to protect ‘rate 47’ to be prepared for when the market recovers,” an Airbus spokesman said.
“This decision aims to provide some visibility to our supply chain and ensure that our industrial ecosystem will be adequately prepared to gradually increase production eventually, when the right conditions are met,” the spokesman said.
Before the crisis, Airbus was making 60 A320-family jets a month to keep up with demand, and had planned to reach 63 per month in 2021, with an additional one to two jets per month in both 2022 and 2023.
It comes following reports that regional and low-cost carriers, which often embrace the Airbus A320 jet family, are due to experience a quicker bounce-back in travel demand than international airlines.
Industry sources said that the plan to increase manufacturing will depend on a “comprehensive” recovery for some of the planemaker’s biggest customers, including many in the south-east Asian market, which are currently struggling to take deliveries.
Analysts remain divided on when the industry may see a meaningful recovery, however there is some agreement that jet demand will increase for smaller single-aisle jets, and remain subdued for larger aircraft.
