(Updated on 9/21 with new details on fan blade supply)

Pratt & Whitney has cut its delivery target for the PW1000G geared turbofan engine from 200 to 150 amid delays associated with the supply of fan blades, said Greg Hayes, the CEO of Pratt parent United Technologies, during Friday’s investors’ conference held by Morgan Stanley in Laguna Beach, California. The comments came 10 days after Bombardier announced that delivery delays of PW1500 geared turbofans would force it to lower its forecast for C Series shipments from 15 to seven for this year. At the time, Pratt would offer no explanation beyond a short written statement that appeared to point to supply chain difficulties. On Friday Hayes confirmed delivery delays involving five parts, most notably the engine’s aluminum-titanium fan blades, as the source.

“This year we talked about delivering about 200 engines; as I stand here today I think that number is...more like 150 for the full year,” said Hayes. “Suffice to say the airlines are not happy they’re not getting the engines; we’re not happy we’re not delivering.”

After delivering 14 GTFs last year, so far this year Pratt has shipped 80, delaying delivery not only of C Series jets but also PW1100G-powered Airbus A320neos. Unlike Bombardier, however, Airbus has not changed its delivery guidance for the A320 because it expects to offset reduced neo deliveries with increased shipments of so-called CEO, or current engine option, models. Earlier this year, A320neo customers endured delivery delays caused by extended restart intervals involving the PW1100G. Pratt insists it has resolved that problem, however.

“There are about 800 parts on the engine, and if I think about it as we reviewed this last week, there are about five parts that are causing us pain this year,” Hayes explained. “There’s one in particular, which is the fan blade, where we’re still struggling to come down the learning curve to get the number of blades we need...Today it takes us about sixty days to build a blade through the shop; it needs to get to thirty days.”

While various manufacturers make the components of the blades, such as the aluminum bodies and covers and titanium sheaths, Pratt & Whitney’s AutoAir facility assembles them in Lansing, Michigan. Pratt declined to indentify whether the delay stemmed from one or more of the fabricators or its own assembly plant, however.

Hayes said he had just visited the plant in Lansing and insisted that the company has a “credible plan” to resolve the problem and build between 350 and 400 engines next year. Pratt has said that it would reach a rate of 1,000 a year by 2020. It now carries an order/option backlog of some 8,200 engines.

“There’s no bigger issue for Pratt & Whitney today than getting these engines built,” concluded Hayes.