Airbus A330neo deliveries slowed by tailplane quality issue

Deliveries of the Airbus A330neo fell sharply in recent months because of a quality issue in production. Airbus said the problem concerned the horizontal tailplane.

Airbus delivered only nine A330neo aircraft in the first five months of the year. No deliveries took place in June or July. A company spokesman said aircraft had to be checked during production, which slowed the monthly delivery rate.

The root cause has been identified and deliveries have resumed, according to Airbus. The manufacturer described the quality problem as isolated. Only one A330neo was handed over in August, to Starlux Airlines, according to a news agency report.

Airbus said no inspections of in-service aircraft are needed and no service bulletin has been issued to operators. A spokesman told aeroTELEGRAPH it is "a pure production issue."

All A330neo deliveries this year have been of the A330-900 variant. The smaller A330-800 has not been delivered in 2024.