*

Engine delays involve Pratt & Whitney and CFM, affecting

Airbus

deliveries

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Airbus aims to increase jet deliveries by 7% to 820 in

2025

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FAA plans $12.5 billion overhaul of US air traffic control

system

By Allison Lampert, Doyinsola Oladipo and David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Airbus CEO

Guillaume Faury said on Tuesday that the situation of completed

airframes waiting for delayed engine deliveries has improved,

but the European planemaker continues to need more engines as it

doubled down on a delivery target for the year.

In July, Faury said the number of what the industry calls

gliders had risen to 60 and that the delays now involved Pratt &

Whitney on top of earlier problems with CFM

.

"We're still in the same situation," Faury told reporters on

the sidelines of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Aerospace

Summit in Washington. "It has slightly improved, but there's

still a lot we need to get from the engine makers between now

and let's say, the end of November."

Faury told the gathering that engines remain the most

challenging part of the aerospace supply chain, even as he

reaffirmed a company target to increase jet deliveries by 7% to

820 in 2025.

Still, Faury said he remains confident that engine makers

will be able to support Airbus' planned ramp-up of aircraft

deliveries. RTX, the parent company of Pratt & Whitney,

declined to comment.

"We see that they are managing those issues, that they are

mostly behind them," he said.

"But as long as we don't have the engines, we know there is

still uncertainty remaining."

The gathering of aerospace executives comes as the industry

wrestles with U.S. tariffs on plane parts from some countries,

softening inbound U.S. travel demand, shortages of air traffic

controllers, and the second bankruptcy filing of budget carrier

Spirit Airlines.

Faury also said the world's biggest planemaker is watching

the market in China, where Airbus is progressing toward the

opening of a second assembly line at the end of 2025. Faury said

he is happy to see the recovery of demand in the fast-growing

market for long-distance flights.

Earlier in the day, Federal Aviation Administration

Administrator Bryan Bedford told the gathering that revamping

the U.S. air traffic control system would not be "an easy

undertaking," after Congress approved an initial $12.5

billion to overhaul the United States' aging air traffic control

system.

The FAA's air traffic control network's woes have been years in

the making, but high-profile mishaps, close calls, and a

catastrophic crash in January between a U.S. Army helicopter and

a regional American Airlines jet that killed 67 people

have raised public alarm.

"These are things that can practically take years to

accomplish," Bedford said.