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Cirium, which gathers data on aircraft, is showing that Boeing conducted test flights on only 13 Max aircraft last month and 11 in February, according to Vertical Research Partners. Reuters reported that production of the 737 Max fell to single digits in March.
Airbus, now the biggest of the large airliner manufacturing duopoly, is having fewer production problems but is still constrained by the supply chain.
Hundreds of its A320neo aircraft that are already in the hands of airlines will have to be grounded for months to fix a problem with power plants made by RTX’s Pratt & Whitney unit. About 3,000 of the geared turbofan engines have been recalled.
The desperation among airlines to add more aircraft is reverberating through the leasing market. The monthly rate for the 737 Max 9 has jumped to US$315,000 from US$305,000 at the beginning of 2020, which is before the pandemic caused flight demand to plummet, Bloomberg News reported based on data from Ishka Global.
Airbus’ A321-200 costs US$335,000 a month to lease, which is back to pre-pandemic levels. Airlines are also keeping planes longer because they can’t take delivery of all the new ones they have on order with Boeing and Airbus.
It costs more to operate older planes because they require more maintenance. Parts are harder to procure for older models. There’s also a shortage of aircraft mechanics, which means an airplane may be on the ground longer waiting for work to be done.
Airlines will undoubtedly be looking to boost airfares to offset these higher costs.
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