European planemaker Airbus has lowered its aircraft delivery forecast for the current year to 860 planes from the earlier prediction of 880-890.

The move comes at the time when the company is already late in deliveries and its Hamburg plant faces production issues.

“We are focused on the A320neo ramp-up and improving the industrial flow while managing the higher level of complexity on the A321 ACF (Airbus Cabin Flex) in particular. Our nine-month delivery numbers and the updated delivery outlook for the year reflect the underlying actions to secure a more efficient delivery flow in the next years as we progress to rate 63 per month for the A320 Family in 2021,” Airbus chief executive officer Guillaume Faury said.

The delay in aircraft delivery from Airbus has already forced budget carrier IndiGo to cut its capacity growth target for the current financial year ending March 31 to 25 percent from 30 percent earlier. IndiGo is now the largest neo client for Airbus with a total order book of 730 A320neo family aircraft.

IndiGo was able to add Neo aircraft from Airbus at the rate of six planes per month earlier but the airline has warned investors that it will not be able to induct at this pace going forward.

“Our delivery stream for the next year is that growth rate is coming down anyhow. We used to get six aircraft every month and now that growth rate is expected to come down. We have certain delays in aircraft deliveries which may be in the range of 3-4 months which is also reflected in our growth for next year,” chief operating officer Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said in the post-earnings analyst call last week.

The airline, which had 245 aircraft as on September 30, added planes at the rate of three per month between July and September.

“All across the aviation industry worldwide there seems to be a problem in the supply chain….castings, forgings are not available. All engine manufacturers and aircraft manufacturers seem to be struggling to keep up with this demand,” IndiGo chief executive officer Ronojoy Dutta had also said last week.

First Published:Oct 30, 2019 6:43 PM IST