...cautions states against exiting aircraft tariff exemptions
...flags challenges facing Africa's airlines
International Air Transport Association, IATA, has said supply chain issues in the air transport sector are expected to persist in 2025.
IATA, which also said a shortage of aircraft and spare parts was dampening growth in Africa, added that the shortage of foreign currency in some economies, particularly US dollars, was adding to the region's challenges.
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IATA made this known at its 81st Annual General Meeting, AGM, taking place in New Delhi, India.
The association expressed sadness over aircraft backlog, saying it exceeded 17,000 and sharply up from the 10,000-11,000 pre-pandemic, with an implied wait time of 14 years.
IATA also warned that should states exit from a multilateral agreement exempting aircraft from tariffs, supply chain constraints and production limitations could worsen.
According to the association, "supply chain issues have had significant negative impacts on airlines: driving-up leasing costs, increasing the average fleet age to 15 years (from 13 in 2015), cutting the fleet replacement rate to half the 5-6 per cent of 2020, and reducing the efficiency of fleet utilization (using larger aircraft than needed on some routes, for example)."
It revealed that in 2025, 1,692 aircraft were expected to be delivered, saying although this would mark the highest level since 2018, it was almost 26 per cent lower than year-ago estimates.
IATA stated that further downward revisions were likely, given that supply chain issues were expected to persist in 2025 and possibly to the end of the decade.
According to the association, engine problems and a shortage of spare parts exacerbate the situation and have caused record-high groundings of certain aircraft types. The number of aircraft younger than 10 years in storage is currently more than 1,100, constituting 3.8 per cent of the total fleet compared with 1.3 per cent between 2015 and 2018. Nearly 70% of these grounded aircraft are equipped with PW1000G engines.
Speaking at the event, IATA's Director General, Willie Walsh, said: "Manufacturers continue to let their airline customers down. Every airline is frustrated that these problems have persisted so long. And indications that it could take until the end of the decade to fix them are off-the-chart unacceptable!"
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