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Supply chain issues ‘preventing airline growth’, Iata warns

Global airline capacity growth is lagging behind demand as supply chain delays continue to constrain the sector, Iata has warned.

The airline trade body’s director general Willie Walsh highlighted the issue as passenger demand rose by more than 8% in November over the same month in 2023 against capacity growth of 5.7% year-on-year.

International demand rose 11.6% compared to November 2023 while domestic demand was up by 3.1%.

Strong performance by carriers in Europe and Asia-Pacific drove the double-digit expansion in international demand.

The international load factor hit an all-time high for the month, up 1.9 percentage points to 83.4%.

Walsh said: “November was another month of strong growth in the demand for air travel with an overall expansion of 8.1%. The month was also another reminder of the supply chain issues that are preventing airlines from getting the aircraft they need to meet growing demand. 

“Capacity growth is lagging demand by 2.4 ppts and load factors are at record levels.” 

He warned: ”Airlines are missing out on opportunities to better serve customers, modernise their products and improve their environmental performance because aircraft are not being delivered on time. 

“The 2025 New Year’s resolution for the aerospace manufacturing sector must be finding a fast and durable solution for their supply chain issues.” 

The Iata figures came as Airbus revealed that it delivered 766 commercial aircraft to 86 customers around the world in 2024 and it had a backlog of 8,658 aircraft by the end of the year.

Christian Scherer, chief executive of commercial aircraft, said: “Given the complex and fast-changing environment we continue to operate in, we consider 2024 a good year. It has been a massive team effort to deliver this 2024 result.”

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