*

Parts, labour, aircraft shortages and longer engine repair

times

impacting carriers

*

Some countries introducing consumer protection rules for

delays

and cancellations

*

Travel in the region has recovered to pre-pandemic levels

By Lisa Barrington

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei, Nov 14 (Reuters) -

A sia-Pacific travel demand has recovered from the pandemic, but

earnings at the region's airlines are under pressure from supply

chain problems disrupting operations and exposing them to

strengthening consumer protection rules, industry executives

say.

A shortage of parts, labour and new planes as the aviation

industry emerged from the pandemic has coincided with

higher-than-expected repairs needed on the latest-generation

engines.

"The supply chain issue is the biggest challenge the

industry is facing," Subhas Menon, the director general of the

Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) said at the trade

body's annual meeting in Brunei this week.

Turnaround times for engine maintenance are at record

lengths, with airlines having to cut flights, move parts around

and lease stop-gap engines or planes to keep operations ticking.

Thai Airways CEO Chai Eamsiri said servicing the

Rolls-Royce engines on its Boeing 787 jets used to

take around three months, but that has blown out to about six.

"We have to stretch the aircraft. We used to operate 12.5

hours a day, now we have to stretch it to 13 plus," he told

Reuters on the sidelines of the gathering.

SUPPLY CHAIN FRUSTRATION

The heads of major carriers including Thai Airways,

Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Kazakhstan's

Air Astana expressed frustration with maintenance

times and said governments trying to improve consumer

protections should stop placing the blame on airlines for

delays.

"The root cause is coming from the supply chain...But we are

the one facing the customer," Eamsiri told the meeting.

Malaysia, Australia, Thailand and the Philippines are among

the countries beefing up airline consumer protections to require

refund options in the case of delays and cancellations, as is

the United States, though the rules are not as onerous as EU

regulations requiring payments to affected passengers.

Aviation manufacturers "have to get their act together", Air

Astana CEO Peter Foster said.

Amid a shortage of planes, labour and parts, Malaysia

Airlines suffered a string of service disruptions this year and

cut its network capacity by 20% from September.

Malaysia's civil aviation regulator cut the duration of the

carrier's air operator certificate to one year from three years

after an investigation.

"All airlines are wringing the neck of our suppliers,"

Malaysia Airlines CEO Izham Ismail told attendees.

Engine servicing used to take around 55 days before the

pandemic, but now it needs 100 or more, Ismail said.

Representatives of Airbus and Rolls-Royce said

separately they were working to resolve supply chain snags,

including improving suppliers' access to financing.

AIRFARES FALLING

Travel in the Asia-Pacific region, which accounts for around

32% of global passenger traffic, recovered later than other

parts of the world due to a belated lifting of pandemic travel

restrictions, particularly in China.

In September, passenger volumes for 40 Asia-Pacific based

carriers averaged 97.5% of the corresponding month in 2019,

according to AAPA data.

Airlines globally have been seeing stable demand but

airfares are declining as a post-pandemic travel boom abates and

most planes are back in the skies.

Singapore Airlines, seen as a bellwether for the region,

last week posted a 48.5% plunge in interim net profit,

reflecting stiff competition, and flagged its earnings would

stay under pressure despite robust travel demand.