Summary
- The Pratt & Whitney Engines shortage for the Airbus A220 has eased, but airBaltic expects the disruption to last as long as a 12 months and a half.
- Durability issues and a shortage of spare engines have caused the grounding of many A220 aircraft, affecting operators like airBaltic.
- airBaltic is the most important European operator of the A220, with 42 aircraft, but is second globally behind Delta Air Lines, which has 45 A220-100 and 17 A220-300 aircraft.
The Pratt & Whitney Engines shortage for the favored Airbus A220 has appeared to ease; nevertheless, as noted by Riga based airBaltic, the world’s second-largest A220 operator expects that the disruption caused could last as long as a 12 months and a half. Operators of the A220 have needed to take care of various durability issues for the engines fixed to the aircraft, adding to the pain by a shortage of spare engines and delays around maintenance have collectively reduced the flexibility to provide working machines and caused lots of the aircraft types to be grounded.
Latvian based, airBaltic (BT) is home to a single fleet of 42 Airbus A220-300, making it the most important operator in Europe, nevertheless globally sits in second place behind North America’s Delta Air Lines, which in response to ch-Aviation, has 45 of the Airbus A220-100 and 17 of the 300 variant. Delta also has one other 69 of the 300 on order.
Photo: Karolis Kavolelis I Shutterstock.
airBaltic A220s parked
With the demand for travel post-pandemic defrosting, airBaltic saw, on average, 11 of its A220s out of motion because of engine constraints in the primary half of 2023, with ch-aviation still reporting that nine of its aircraft remain inactive. While the pinch is predicted to still be felt for the following 18 months, the Riga-based airline has seen the unexpected engine removal’s decreasing, and a modification of oil pipes has alleviated among the issues. Over the previous few months, airBaltic was forced to wet lease aircraft to keep up its network, with the airlines Chief Executive Martin Gauss, noting that:
“We now see this trend line changing. Assuming that it stays like this, I might say that at the top of 2024 we s, we must always have net zero missing engines.”
“From the present forecast. I do not see us returning to zero (missing engines) before the top of next 12 months,” he said.
Revenue strong
The carrier has rebounded well post-pandemic, with a net profit reported of 14.6 million euros for the primary half of the 12 months, in comparison with a lack of 91 million euros in 2022. Revenue has grown staggeringly, with a 52% improvement, at 291.3 million euros to date.
While a shortage of spare engines, has affected the performance of the airline, it’s still full steam ahead at airBaltic, with the carrier noting that this July saw the airline carry over half one million passengers in a single month, which is the primary time the airline has seen this for the reason that COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo: Karolis Kavolelis/Shutterstock
More A220’s planned
The airline’s CEO also mooted that airBaltic is considering a further 30 Airbus A220-300s from Airbus, preparing for a possible IPO in 2024.
Sources: Reuters, ch-Aviation