Airbus lowered Monday its total delivery target for 2024 to around 770 aircraft from about 800. It also pushed the deadline to reach production of 75 narrow body airplanes per month from 2026 to 2027.

After its most recent review, Europe's biggest aerospace group announced new charges totaling around 900 millions euros.

Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus, told analysts: "We're facing headwinds at the moment; we need to bite the bullet."

Airbus has been struggling with increasing parts shortages for weeks. This is the reason why its industrial forecasts have been revised downward.

Airbus, according to industry sources, has exhausted its spare margin after failing to meet its internal targets in the first five month and starting June with an insufficient rate of delivery.

After the pandemic, many aerospace suppliers were left with weak finances. They have struggled to rehire employees and stabilize supplies.

Faury stated that supplies of engines for the narrow-body jets of its A320 family, which is one of their best-selling models, had declined "significantly" over recent months. This was just one of many factors that led to Faury reducing production forecasts.

He said that the shortfall affects both engines suppliers for the A320neo family of narrow-body aircraft, which competes against the Boeing 737 MAX and accounts for the majority of Airbus' profits and cash.

Neither the RTX subsidiary Pratt & Whitney nor the French-U.S. venture CFM International - co-owned by GE Aerospace France and Safran – had any immediate comments.

Faury hinted at a dispute over penalties when he said that engine suppliers "would have to face the consequences" if they delayed.

SPIRIT AERO UNCERTAINTY

Faury told reporters that the downgrade was also due to an uncertain outlook regarding the commitments made by aerostructures manufacturer Spirit Aerosystems.

He refused to comment on the timing for a widely anticipated deal to buy Spirit assets related the A350 and A220 programmes, as part of a carve up of the supplier by Boeing. Sources have stated that they expect the deal to be completed in the next few days or weeks.

Spirit had no immediate comment.

The shortage of cabin and seat parts was also blamed. Faury said to analysts, "We continue observing a very challenging situation in the interiors."

Christian Scherer told Hamburger Abendblatt, in an interview published Saturday, that landing gear, engines and cabin components all contribute to the tight supply chain.

Workers at the Safran factory in Montreal, Canada who make components for Airbus and Boeing landing equipment have been on strike for almost four weeks.

A reporter in Toulouse on Saturday spotted five Airbus wide-bodied aircraft that had not yet been delivered, but were parked with no engines.

Faury stated that engines from Rolls-Royce for wide-bodied jets are behind schedule but not for the A350. According to industry sources, Airbus has delayed the installation of certain engines while it awaits parts and seats. (Reporting and editing by Chris Reese, David Gregorio, and Tim Hepher)