Continuing “challenges” associated with the industrialization and production acceleration of the Airbus Cabin Flex (ACF) version of the A321LR in Hamburg have prompted Airbus to lower its delivery forecast for this year to 860 airplanes from a previous projection of between 880 and 890, company executives said Wednesday. Speaking during Airbus’s earnings call for the first nine months of 2019, CEO Guillaume Faury explained that the complexity involving the ACF’s cabin configuration the company must “digest” would persist until the end of 2020, by which time it expects to have delivered all of the model’s heads of version airplanes. Notwithstanding the continuing struggles, the situation has begun to improve, he reported, as the company plans to deliver in the fourth quarter roughly half of the near 100 ACFs targeted for shipment this year.

First delivered to Turkish Airlines in mid-2018, the A321neo ACF encompasses modifications including a new rear section and a modification in which designers removed the door located forward of the wing and introduced new overwing emergency exits in the center section. Airbus plans to make the ACF configuration standard for all A321neos sometime next year and expects ACFs to account for all A321s that roll off the assembly line by the end of 2021. 

By that time the company also plans to increase total A320 production from 60 to 63 per month, a plan that presents another reason Airbus considers resolving the ACF complexities so vital.

“There is a lot of industrialization to be done with each of the head of versions, and therefore this big one-off comes with a lot of additional work, and we are doing this at the same time we are improving the underlying performance and structure of the production systems to ramp up to higher rates with even more ACFs next year,” said Faury.

The CEO explained that the ACF’s cabin differs virtually entirely from that of the standard A321neo and includes provisions for new systems, including those related to fuel tanks because designers based the ACF on the LR version to allow for more range. The changes require relocation and rerouting of wires harnesses and fuel lines as well as airframe modifications, resulting in further complexity.

Although during the call Faury also warned of the potential negative effects associated with the 10-percent tariffs the U.S. has placed on Airbus exports from Europe, he noted the duties did not play a role in Airbus’s cut in the 2019 delivery target.

“These are import duties so by contract they have to be paid by the customers themselves,” he noted. “Now there’s a lot of complexity in the short term, so we are managing the complexity with our customers sort of aircraft by aircraft, but moving forward by the middle of next year, we want to be in a situation where the tariffs are paid by the customers. Ten percent is a lot of money.”