Airbus to inspect hundreds of A320s for panel defect

The extra inspections will risk slowing down delivery of newly-produced jets

- Bloomberg

Airbus SE must inspect hundreds of its bestselling A320 jets for potential quality flaws in the aircraft's body, an arduous process that risks complicating the company’s last-ditch effort to meet its delivery target.

A total of 628 jets contain panels that maybe too thick or too thin due to a manufacturing issue at a supplier, Airbus told A320 customers in a roughly hour-long presentation last week. Most of those aircraft are still at Airbus, with 245 on the final assembly line or being prepared for delivery while 215 are in earlier stages of production, according to materials from the presentation that were seen by Bloomberg.