DUBLIN (Reuters) – Global airline capacity will be lower than expected this year and will remain limited until at least 2025, IATA chief executive Willie Walsh warned, due to delays in deliveries of new aircraft and lack of availability of spare parts.

“I don’t see any real or significant improvement until 2025 at the earliest, and it could even go beyond that,” Willie Walsh told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Dublin on Wednesday.

Airlines, hoping to put years of health restrictions behind them, expect travel demand to recover or surpass 2019 levels this year, but a lack of planes could dampen growth.

Aircraft manufacturers Boeing Co and Airbus are under pressure from bottlenecks in supply chains, leading to delivery delays. Airline bosses also report a lack of spare parts, especially for engines, reports Willie Walsh.

“This means that capacity will be slightly lower than industry forecasts,” he explains.

Last week, Boeing announced a new halt in 737 deliveries linked to its suppliers, while industry sources said Airbus had started notifying airlines of delivery delays in 2024 for its largest family of aircraft. sold, the A320neo.

Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, warned on Wednesday that it will cut its July schedule because it expects around 10 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to be delayed due to manufacturing issues.

These difficulties should not cause chaos at airports comparable to what was observed last year when demand recovered after the COVID-19 crisis, assured the DG of IATA.

(Conor Humphries report, Victor Goury-Laffont, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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