Inside the aircraft industry crisis that is holding up jet deliveries

Airline seat manufacturerers have been hit by industrial and regulatory delays, while pressure for cabin customisation is creating assemby headaches, writes Tim Hepher from Cwmbran, South Wales

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Tucked beneath the armrest of a luxury business class seat in a factory in Wales lies a clue to a global aviation bottleneck that has left many airlines waiting impatiently for new jets.

Before the armrest can support the pampered elbow of a premium passenger, a complex manufacturing jigsaw with as many as 3,000 parts from 50 suppliers in 15 countries needs to be meticulously assembled to produce the luxury seat.

As air travel grows, this niche but critical part of the aerospace industry is at the centre of efforts to clear a logjam that has contributed to billions of dollars of aircraft delays for industry giants Airbus and Boeing, and higher fares for passengers.

"If you look at this, all you would see is a top-level arm cap and think that's very nice," Dafydd Davies, industrial vice president at Safran Seats GB, said during a visit to the company's factory in Cwmbran, South Wales. "If you look below, there is a lot more to the mechanical assembly."

To understand the often overlooked issue of how something as outwardly simple as a seat can slow the entire jet supply chain, Reuters spoke to over a dozen people involved in seat making and purchasing, airline chief executives and designers.

Coupled with bottlenecks in certification, growing airline demand for bespoke features has made it hard for a fragmented seat industry — only now getting back on its feet after the Covid-19 pandemic — to achieve economies of scale and boost output.

"There has been a perfect storm of what would otherwise not be industry-stopping problems," said aircraft interiors expert John Walton, founder of specialist publication The Up Front. "It's still very much a cottage industry."

Airbus warned airlines in May that delivery delays could persist for another three years as it works through a backlog of supply problems, which it blames chiefly on engines and seats.