Airbus SE has identified quality lapses on a tail section of its A330neo aircraft, bringing deliveries of the widebody jet to a near halt over the past three months.
The issue concerns a horizontal tail plane, forcing the company to inspect the aircraft during their production process and slowing monthly handovers, Airbus said in a statement in response to a query by Bloomberg News.
“The root cause is identified, and A330 deliveries have resumed,” Airbus said, calling the quality issue “isolated.”
The manufacturer didn’t deliver any A330neos in June and July, and just one in August, to Taiwan’s Starlux Airlines, according to people familiar with the situation, who asked not be identified discussing non-public information.
Airbus declined to comment on deliveries for August ahead of the official publication in coming days. The stock dropped as much as 1.8% following the revelation.
The company handed over about 57 aircraft in total in August, the people said, a slower rate than what it achieved in July. That would take deliveries this year to 475, still about 400 aircraft short of Airbus’s annual target. Output typically picks up considerably in the final stretch of the year, giving Airbus a shot at achieving its goal.
The Toulouse, France-based planemaker has said it can achieve its delivery target for the year, while providing a range of 850 to 890 units that suggests there’s scope to exceed that goal.
The Airbus A330neo is an upgraded version of the company’s older widebody model, featuring new engines and an improved wing design, alongside other tweaks. The plane sits between the company’s A320 family of narrow-body jets and the flagship A350 widebody, which features more powerful engines and more advanced materials that make it lighter.
Horizontal tail stabilizers for the A330, among other Airbus jets, are assembled at the Getafe plant, south of Madrid. Thousands of workers at the site have been on strike for several weeks in protest of what they say are deteriorating work conditions over the past years.
Airbus builds roughly four A330neos a month, and has plans to increase output to five in 2029, as the tried-and tested widebody model enjoys a resurgence in popularity with airlines retiring their older A330ceo jets or looking for a cheaper alternative to the A350 or Boeing Co.’s 787 competitor.
Quality snags aren’t unusual in the notoriously exacting aviation industry. The company discovered faulty fuselage panels on its best-selling A320 family jets, prompting Airbus to lower its delivery target in the final weeks of December 2025 to about 790 units.
Airbus has also faced constraints in engines from Pratt & Whitney, forcing the planemaker to low-ball its annual delivery goal this year.
In June, Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury told employees that the planemaker must improve its performance in the latter half of 2026 after a disappointing first quarter.
Boeing has also grappled with sporadic lapses, including a wiring flaw that it found on its 737 Max jets earlier this year and temporarily impacted deliveries.
