Airbus plane deviated from course after landing in Brazil reveals a problem with the horizontal tail surface

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The Airbus plane deviated from its course after landing in Brazil

Airbus said, in response to an inquiry from Bloomberg, that the problem was related to the horizontal tail surface, which required the planes to be subjected to inspection during the production process and led to a slowdown in the pace of their delivery on time.

The company added, “The root cause of the problem has been identified, and deliveries of A330neo aircraft have resumed,” noting that the defect is a limited/isolated case.

According to sources familiar with the situation, Airbus did not deliver any A330neo aircraft during the months of June and July, while it delivered only one aircraft in August to the Taiwanese airline Starlux Airlines.

Airbus declined to comment on August deliveries before the official data is published in the coming days, while Airbus shares fell by as much as 1.8% following the disclosure of the problem.

The sources said that Airbus delivered about 57 aircraft of various models in August, at a slower pace than in July, and this would raise the total deliveries since the beginning of the year to 475 aircraft, about 400 aircraft less than the company’s annual target, but the pace of production and deliveries usually rises significantly during the last months of the year.

Airbus confirmed its ability to achieve the delivery target for this year, which was set within a range of 850 to 890 aircraft, leaving room to exceed the target.

Airbus produces about four A330neo aircraft per month, and plans to increase production to five aircraft per month by 2029, in light of the renewed interest of airlines in this model, which represents a less expensive option than the A350 and a competitor to the Boeing 787.

The horizontal tail parts of the A330 aircraft are assembled at Airbus facilities in Spain, while the company confirmed that the defect is not related to the recent strikes in its Spanish factories.

The A330neo is an upgraded version of Airbus's older widebody aircraft, featuring new engines, an improved wing design and other modifications.

This model falls between the A320 family of narrow-body aircraft and the A350 wide-body aircraft, which use more powerful engines and advanced materials that make them lighter.

Quality problems are not uncommon in the aviation sector, which is subject to very strict standards, and Airbus had previously discovered defective panels in the fuselages of the best-selling A320 family aircraft, which prompted it to reduce the target of deliveries in the last weeks of December to about 790 aircraft.

The company also faced constraints in engine supplies from Pratt & Whitney, which prompted it to set a conservative target for annual deliveries.