PARIS -- Shares in Airbus eased on Friday after the European planemaker said it had discovered a quality flaw inside the fuselage of hundreds of best-selling A321neo jets. The problem stems from an incorrectly applied coat of primer by an Italian supplier and leaves Airbus facing questions over quality controls in the biggest part of its factory system for the second time in less than a year, industry sources said. Airbus said safety was not affected and reaffirmed its existing delivery target of around 870 jets for 2026, compared with 475 handed over between January and August. “Our full-year guidance was formally stated during our first-half results on 29 July - this remains our current public position,” an Airbus spokesperson said. Shares lag other blue-chip stocks Shares in the world’s largest planemaker were down just over one per cent in early trading, lagging other CAC 40 blue-chip stocks, as analysts sought to determine how assembly lines would be affected. Jefferies analyst Choe Lemarie said the availability of a fix should limit any potential impact on deliveries this year. Tracking data shows eight deliveries so far this week, suggesting that deliveries are “not meaningfully affected at this stage,” the analyst wrote in a note to investors. Airbus is in the midst of a two-pronged effort to hit record deliveries this year, after prolonged pressure on supply chains since the COVID-19 pandemic, while trying to reach a repeatedly delayed production rate of 75 planes a month from about 60 now. Confirming a report in the Air Current, the company said the problem involved flawed anti-corrosion coating on strengthening components known as stringers in the forward fuselage of a batch of A321neo jets, but did not pose an immediate safety risk. Two industry sources said the problem involved an anti-corrosion layer handled by a sub-contractor to Italy’s Leonardo, one of the aircraft’s aerostructures suppliers alongside in-house Airbus Atlantic, formerly known as Stelia. Leonardo declined to comment. Last December, Airbus suffered problems with fuselage panels from a Spanish supplier. That issue too was deemed a quality problem rather than immediate safety risk, but unraveling the situation caused months of delivery delays and prompted Airbus to miss its original 2025 delivery target. The A321neo is Airbus’ largest single-aisle jet and has been heavily outselling the largest models of Boeing’s rival 737 MAX, while leaving European factories with a challenging ramp-up. (Reporting by Tim Hepher, Piotr Lipinski; Editing by Jan Harvey and Barbara Lewis)
