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CEO of Airbus planemaking business briefs French reporters

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Sees no direct impact from Boeing ( BA ) strike

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Says CFM engines continue to hamper production

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Confirms Airbus concerns over Spirit AeroSystems ( SPR )

production

(Adds details, CEO quotes from paragraph 3)

By Tim Hepher

PARIS, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The CEO of Airbus'

planemaking business said on Friday the European planemaker was

monitoring the wider impact of a strike by Boeing ( BA ) workers, but

had not yet seen a direct impact on the number of parts

delivered by shared suppliers.

In a briefing to French aerospace media, Christian Scherer

singled out an earlier issue with supplies of engines from CFM

International and said these remained on the

"critical path," adding: "I regret it, but it is the case".

A spokesperson for the French-U.S. engine maker declined

comment.

"CFM is a bottleneck," Scherer told a briefing hosted by

French aerospace journalists' association AJPAE.

Airbus lowered industrial targets and issued a profit

warning in July, citing a shortfall in supplies of engines from

CFM, co-owned by GE Aerospace and France's Safran, as

well as shortages of parts from other suppliers.

GE Aerospace CFO Rahul Ghai told a Jefferies

conference last month that third-quarter engine output would be

better than in the second quarter, "but still (show) pressure on

a year-over-year basis".

He expected further improvement in the fourth quarter.

Scherer also singled out production problems at Spirit

AeroSystems ( SPR ).

Production rates at the U.S. aerostructures supplier are

"not exactly where we would like," Scherer said, adding that

Airbus had sent dozens of workers to key Spirit factories to

help stabilise the situation.

Reuters reported on Thursday that Airbus was facing

concerns over production of key structural parts for A350 and

A220 jets by Spirit AeroSystems ( SPR ), and had taken measures

including deploying staff to affected plants and air-freighting

parts.

Spirit said it was delivering according to Airbus' schedule

and that Airbus staff were part of an existing joint improvement

program, and did not indicate new or urgent production issues.

In a sign of buoyant demand for wide-demand jets,

Scherer hinted at increased production of the A330neo.

Production of the upgraded model is running at about four a

month but will not necessarily stay at that level, he said.

A possible stretched version of the A220 remains on the

table, he said, in answer to a query about plans that have long

been mooted to add capacity to the Canadian-designed model.

Industry sources say engine makers are sceptical about the plan,

which could cannibalise sales of best-selling larger models.