by Donald Wood
Last updated: 9:00 AM ET, Tue April 9, 2024
The airline industry in the United States and beyond has a
major problem; travel demand for the summer is expected to surpass pre-pandemic
totals, but carriers are dealing with aircraft delivery delays.
According to Reuters.com,
several major airlines worldwide have been forced to trim flight schedules to
deal with the reduced number of expected planes in their fleets. Other carriers
are spending billions of dollars to repair older planes or paying extra to lease
aircraft.
“We can expect a strong performance from airlines throughout
the summer with some particularly high airfare,” OAG senior analyst John Grant
told Reuters.
The timing for the aviation industry couldn’t be worse, as 4.7
billion travelers are expected to fly in 2024, an increase from the 4.5 billion
people who took to the skies in 2019. The International Air Transport
Association (IATA) predicts air travel capacity will grow nine percent this
year.
AeroDynamic Advisory revealed data that showed global
airlines will take 19 percent less plane deliveries this year than expected,
while carriers in the U.S. will receive 32 percent fewer aircraft, mostly due
to issues with Boeing’s inspection process and the repercussions from January’s
mid-air panel blowout.
The problem goes beyond Boeing, though, as Reuters reports
that “as many as 650 Airbus A320neo jets could be grounded in the first half of
2024 for inspections to deal with a flaw with RTX Corp's Pratt & Whitney
engines.”
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