Regional aviation has rebounded strongly since the Covid crisis, but supply-chain issues are hampering growth and will continue to do so for another year or two, speakers suggested during a recent Cirium webinar. "Recovery has been strong in 2025, and we've seen higher upswings, [but] whether that will continue in 2026 we will have to see," TrueNoord commercial chief Richard Jacobs said during Cirium's 'Regional aircraft: market dynamics in focus' webinar on 22 October. "Thus far, it's been very positive. With every aircraft – be it turboprop or large regional jet – offered for remarketing, we would've been able to place it three times over." Loganair fleet director Sylvain Gloux agrees that the market has been "recovering strongly", but notes that the recovery past 2019 levels could have been much stronger were it not for supply-chain issues. "What we've seen in the past year is a strong recovery in lease rates and values, but this is the result of limited capacity," says Gloux, although he adds that "we're now seeing some stability and we may be reaching a peak in terms of values and lease rates". The biggest issue for airlines, in his view, is a "lack of visibility" on aircraft delivery times, which makes it difficult to plan schedules with certainty. Gloux believes the supply-chain issues are stabilising rather than improving. "We see some stability going into 2026, but it will take a couple of years," he warns. There were differing views among the panellists on when supply issues for OEMs and MRO providers would be resolved. Jacobs paints the rosiest picture. By 2027, he asserts, "the worst will be behind us". Gloux says he is "less optimistic", believing that "in 2028, we will be in better shape as an industry" – a view shared by Alex Vathylakis, principal valuations analyst at Cirium Ascend Consultancy. The supply-chain challenges facing the regional aviation market are a "new reality" that will likely remain in place "for the coming years", says Vathylakis. A lack of regional aircraft replacement options is also making life difficult for operators in this space, he observes. For instance, the size of the Embraer 175 fleet in the US market has "increased strongly" over the last five or six years and this aircraft "continues to gain traction". However, this is "one of the signs there's a lack of new options", in Vathylakis's view. He notes that Embraer and ATR essentially have a monopoly in the turboprop and regional jet markets, with the ATR 72-600 "enjoying the [70-seat turboprop] market on its own" while a "lack of direct replacement options" in the 50-seat jet segment pushes operators towards larger regional aircraft which "might not work for everyone". Indeed, Gloux points out that 50-seaters "would be more suitable" for many of Loganair's routes, but such aircraft are "very difficult to find", and "the absence of replacement options in the near term is an issue". Vathylakis says "large turboprop deliveries are facing a new reality post-Covid", as an "ATR ramp-up is only expected next year" while large regional jet deliveries have "halved post-Covid". "Supply of ready-to-go turboprops remains tight with minimal availability from lessors," he adds. "It's a similar story with serviceable regional jets: supply is tight with no clear signs of improvement."

Swiss has taken the decision to ground all nine of its Airbus A220-100 aircraft for 18 months and use the engines to support its A220-300 fleet. The decision was prompted by ongoing maintenance and supply issues with the Pratt & Whitney GTF engines that power the aircraft. "The ongoing global shortage of Pratt & Whitney engines and spare parts has led to the temporary grounding of several Airbus short-haul aircraft worldwide," says Swiss, adding that "there is currently no sign of the situation easing" and "forecasts suggest that it may further intensify in 2026". The airline says that to "enhance planning reliability", it has decided to "temporarily withdraw all nine of our smaller Airbus A220-100 aircraft from service for approximately 18 months". The 18 PW1500 engines from the -100s will be used as spare engines for the -300 fleet, Swiss confirms. "This process will begin in November and is expected to be completed by summer 2026, with detailed planning currently underway," says Swiss, noting that the measure will not reduce the size of its active fleet because it enables the carrier to bring grounded A220-300s back into service. "These aircraft offer greater capacity and efficiency compared to the A220-100." Four of Swiss's A220-100s are already listed as being in storage, Cirium fleets data shows. Four of the Lufthansa subsidiary's A220-300s are listed as being in storage.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has issued an emergency airworthiness directive (AD) that temporarily grounds thousands of Airbus A320-family aircraft for implementation of an urgent software change to their elevator aileron computers. The directive, issued on 28 November, puts into force an alert operator transmission which Airbus says was issued after analysis of an in-flight event revealed that "intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls". The AD covers all A319, A320 and A321 aircraft of all serial numbers, and requires the installation of serviceable ELAC B L103+ software while prohibiting the operation of the ELAC B L104 package. Operators of aircraft with the latter must replace or modify the affected ELAC (elevator aileron computer) with the serviceable one before the next flight. An allowance has been made for up to three non-passenger and non-ETOPS flights to position the aircraft for replacement. Fleets data shows that there are over 9,500 A319, A320 and A321 aircraft in service and over 1,300 in storage globally. Airbus says a "significant number of A320-family aircraft currently in-service which may be impacted" by the directive. "Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers," the manufacturer adds. "We apologize for the inconvenience caused and will work closely with operators, while keeping safety as our number one and overriding priority." The grounding is set to impact major A320-family operators in North America, such as JetBlue Airways, American Airlines and Spirit Airlines, and comes amid the peak Thanksgiving holiday period. Other airlines around the world said on 29 November that they were taking action to comply with the directive. Lufhansa says it has started implementing checks across its A320-family fleet which are set to "take several hours per aircraft" and may result in some delays and cancellations over the weekend. Avianca says more than 70% of its fleet is affected and that it has closed sales for travel up to 8 December. AirAsia's group chief executive Bo Lingam says the carrier is "taking immediate steps to comply with the airworthiness directive and aim to complete the process within the next 48 hours, while ensuring minimal disruption to our guests". Jetstar Airways says in a statement to passengers that "some of our Airbus-operated flights are unable to depart today" and warns that " alternative travel options are extremely limited over the coming days due to high demand across the network".