Airbus suspends A320 revamp study amid output problems

PARIS — Airbus has shelved advanced studies aimed at improving its A320neo jet family, designed in part to fend off a mid-market plane that Boeing hopes to build, two people familiar with the matter said.

The surprise decision to back away from the proposed “A320neo-plus” and “A321neo-plus,” which would lengthen and modernize both models, comes as Airbus continues to face problems in increasing output for the current versions.

“The ramp-up is not going as well as hoped,” a person with knowledge of the supply chain said. Another said Airbus had declared industrial matters top priority amid engine shortages, calling off plans to show the A320neo-plus design to airlines.

“We do not comment on product policy,” an Airbus spokesman said, asked about a decision to halt work on the A320neo-plus.

The 30-year-old A320 family is Airbus’s most-sold model and competes with Boeing’s 737 for the bulk of airline business.

Demand for both workhorse series is strong, but Airbus has won the order race since both sides carried out engine upgrades earlier this decade, particularly with the big-selling A321neo.

It faces uncertainty, however, as Boeing ponders a new jet in the middle of the market, overlapping narrowbody jets and the wide-body sector where its position is strongest.

In an effort to preempt that move, Airbus had been looking at stretching the A320neo and A321neo to add seats from 2022, two years before the earliest date for Boeing’s proposed jet. —