The peak global airline body says aircraft manufacturers and service providers have held back aviation’s recovery from the pandemic and dented the customer experience.
International Air Transport Association’s director general Willie Walsh has hit back at manufacturers for holding back the airline industry, arguing the fixing of supply chains was paramount in alleviating some of the customer pain points when flying.
IATA’s accusations are off the back new passenger data, which showed both domestic and international for September 2023 was 30.1 per cent higher compared to the prior year.
“Supply chain issues in the aircraft manufacturing sector are unacceptable,” Mr Walsh said.
“They have held back the recovery and solutions must be found.
“Equipment failures, staffing shortages and labour unrest made it impossible to deliver the flying experience our customers expect. A successful 2024 needs the whole value chain to be fully prepared to handle the demand that is coming.”
Supply chain and the backlog in maintenance had contributed to the slow increase in capacity, which is putting upward pressure on airfares.
Both Airbus and Boeing have faced ongoing supply issues and a backlog in maintenance since aviation returned after the pandemic.
This has impacted Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin in the ongoing maintenance of planes and the delivery of new aircraft.
Supply chain issues earlier in the year had impacted on-time performance for the major carriers, particularly for Jetstar, which was seeing cancellation rates of more than 8 per cent of its daily schedule.
Virgin boss Jayne Hrdlicka at the IATA annual general meeting earlier in the year said supply chain issues were a “fundamental challenge” for the airline.
“We’re depending on new aircraft coming in and it’s taking longer than we expected,” she said.
Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson in August said the issues at Boeing and Airbus were easing for new aircraft and believed the delivery of new aircraft to the carrier would remain on schedule over the coming decade.
Air New Zealand recently consolidated its Trans Tasman flying schedule due engine maintenance issues on some of its narrowbody aircraft.
Mr Walsh did note demand for flying going into 2024 was expected to remain strong despite economic and political headwinds from the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, which were driving jet fuel prices.
According to IATA, Australia’s domestic aviation market grew 7.2 per cent on the prior year in terms of revenue passenger kilometres, which is a measurement of actual passenger traffic throughout the period.
Available seat kilometres, which is a measurement of available capacity for Australian domestic travel, rose 11.7 per cent over the period.
Qantas has flagged its international capacity would return to pre-pandemic levels around March next year.
Asia Pacific airlines, which includes Qantas and Virgin Australia, reported an increase in international travel of 92.6 per cent compared to the prior year, while capacity for the region was sitting at 82.1 per cent.
Increases in overall capacity also coincide with Qantas’ major airline partner Emirates posting a massive profit for the first six months its financial period, which was largely driven by strong increases in travel demand and cargo.
The gulf carrier posted an interim profit of $US2.7 billion ($4.25b) and is a 138 per cent increase on the same period last year. Its revenue also jumped 19 per cent due to the surge in travel demand.
“For the second half of 2023-24, we expect customer demand across our business divisions to remain healthy and we will stay agile in how we deploy our resources in this dynamic marketplace,” Emirates chief executive his highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said.
“At the same time, we are keeping a close watch on headwinds such as rising fuel prices, the strengthening US dollar, inflationary costs, and geopolitics.”
The rise in Emirates’ profit is reflective of the profits booked by both Qantas and Virgin Australia, which saw massive jumps in revenue due to high ticket demand and elevated prices.