Shares of Airbus dropped nearly 9% on Monday after a report alleged a quality issue with fuselage panels in A320-family aircraft, days after the planemaker issued an alert about a software glitch on certain jets.
Airbus shares slumped nearly 9% to € 186.22 at 1:34 pm (CEST) on Monday, December 1, according to data collected from Marketwatch.
The shares dropped after a report by Reuters citing people aware of the development claimed that the fuselage panel issue is delaying some deliveries, but there are no signs it has affected aircraft already in service.
is already confronting issues with the A320 jets as it strives to meet an ambitious target of 820 aircraft deliveries by year’s end. The aircraft manufacturer has had to deal with engine problems on its newer A320neo jets, powered by RTX Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney, which led to hundreds of jets being temporarily taken out of service for maintenance, Bloomberg reported.
The Reuters report stated that the planemaker delivered 72 aircraft in November, fewer than many analysts had previously expected, bringing the total for the year so far to 657.
Reacting to the report, Bloomberg quoted the planemaker saying, “is taking a conservative approach and is inspecting all aircraft potentially impacted – knowing that only a portion of them will need further action to be taken.”
Airbus stated that the source of the issue has been identified and resolved, and that newly produced panels meet all standards. However, it remains unclear how the extra inspections might affect Airbus’s tight aircraft delivery schedule for the year, and how many planes are impacted by this measure.
Airbus software glitch
The report of the new problem emerged days after Airbus informed that around 6,000 of its A320 aircraft required a software upgrade.
Airbus informed on Friday that intense solar radiation could corrupt data critical to flight controls in a significant number of A320 family aircraft, and that the required software changes to address the issue would result in operational disruptions.
The update mainly involves reverting to earlier software versions, and aircraft must undergo this change before being cleared to fly again, according to an airline bulletin reviewed by Reuters. Several airlines cautioned that completing these repairs might cause delays or cancellations.
Friday’s alert followed an unintended loss of altitude on a JetBlue flight from Cancún, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, on October 30. This incident resulted in injuries to 10 passengers, and France’s BEA accident agency is investigating, according to multiple reports.