Flyadeal CEO blasts Airbus for ‘inexcusable' delays

The head of Saudi budget carrier flyadeal criticised Airbus' handling of delays of narrow-body jets and voiced concerns that disruption could spread to freshly ordered wide-body A330neos.

- TIM HEPHER

CEO Steven Greenway spoke out about delays on the sidelines of an IATA airline industry summit in New Delhi, just weeks after unveiling an order for 10 A330neo long-haul planes.

"Delays are becoming inexcusable. Transparency, to be frank, is lacking, and we're getting agitated. How else can we plan? I mean it is just going beyond a joke now," Mr Greenway told Reuters.

A non-excusable delay is a term used in aircraft contracts to trigger specific penalties to airlines, but these are rare. Jet makers have consistently argued that any delays caused by supply chain problems are "excusable," industry sources say.

Airbus faces some internal industrial problems, he said.

Airbus declined to comment on the narrow-body delays. It has previously reported some improvement in supply chains and has said it is working to soften the impact on customers, while sticking to a target for 820 deliveries this year.