Airbus warns A350 deliveries may stretch to 2030

Airbus has warned some customers that deliveries of certain A350 jets later this decade may slip again, reopening questions about how quickly the European planemaker can raise output on its flagship long-haul program. Reuters reported on May 20 that Airbus had informed customers of further delays, citing three industry sources, and said the concerns were linked to disruption at a U.S. factory supplying fuselage parts. Separate trade reporting on May 23 said the issue is also feeding scrutiny of Airbus’s A350F freighter schedule as Boeing’s competing 777-8F faces its own delays. Airbus has said the first A350F remains scheduled for 2027. ### Which A350 deliveries are Airbus warning about? Reuters reported on May 20 that Airbus had notified some customers about additional delays affecting A350 deliveries planned for the later years of the decade. The report said the warning applied to some aircraft due in a period stretching toward the end of the 2020s, rather than to near-term handovers only. (money.usnews.com) Aviation Week reported three days later that the new delays span about one month on average for the A350, based on industry sources. That report also said Airbus warned customers about A320neo-family delays, indicating the disruption is not confined to one program. ### What is causing the latest disruption? Reuters said the fresh concern centers on shipments from a former Spirit AeroSystems operation in Kinston, North Carolina, now under Airbus control. (money.usnews.com) The site supplies major fuselage sections for the A350, and the report said the transition after the acquisition had raised operational concerns. (aviationweek.com) Aerotime, citing Reuters, said Airbus is also dealing with disruption involving production of the A350 cargo door. That matters because the freighter version depends on a large main-deck cargo door, a component Airbus has been developing as part of the A350F program. ### How far could some deliveries move? Reuters said Airbus cautioned some customers that deliveries could shift within a 2027-to-2030 window. (money.usnews.com) The report did not say that all A350 deliveries would move that far, but it described the warning as a fresh sign that the company’s recovery from supply-chain strain remains uneven. (aerotime.aero) Airbus executives had previously set out an ambition to reach 12 A350 deliveries per month in 2028, according to Aerotime’s summary of company remarks at Airbus’s February 2026 annual conference. The new customer warnings suggest the path to that rate remains under pressure. ### How does this affect the freighter contest with Boeing? (money.usnews.com) DJ’s Aviation reported on May 23 that both Airbus’s A350F and Boeing’s 777-8F are facing fresh schedule pressure from certification demands, stretched systems and supply-chain problems across the industry. The report described a broader bottleneck affecting next-generation freighters rather than a problem isolated to one manufacturer. (aerotime.aero) Boeing’s 777-8F is tied to the wider 777X certification path, while Airbus has said the first A350F remains due in 2027 despite the latest production strain. That leaves both manufacturers trying to hold freighter customers as cargo operators wait for replacement aircraft in the second half of the decade. ### What has Airbus said publicly? Airbus told Reuters that the first A350 freighter remains scheduled for 2027. (djsaviation.net) The company did not publicly detail customer-specific delivery positions in the reports surfaced this week. In April 2026, Airbus said it had completed manufacturing and assembly of the first main-deck cargo door for the A350F at Illescas, Spain, according to Aerotime’s report. (djsaviation.net) The next milestones for customers will be whether Airbus can stabilize fuselage supply from North Carolina and keep the 2027 A350F entry-into-service target in place. (aerotime.aero)