Air Lease chief executive John Plueger remains concerned by the ongoing Boeing 787 delivery "freeze" while disclosing that the lessor has cancelled orders for three of the type. Speaking during a third-quarter results call on 4 November, Plueger said the US lessor had originally been scheduled to take 10 new 787's by year-end but at this juncture was "uncertain" it would receive any. "In some cases, these aircraft are or will be more than 12 months late and, as such, we have cancelled three 787s," he says. "We are closely watching supply-chain constraints, especially as the OEMs ramp up production rates. It is no coincidence that both Boeing and Airbus increased commentary on supply-chain constraints in each of their third-quarter earnings calls". During the fourth quarter of 2020, Boeing identified manufacturing-related issues with 787 aircraft. As a result, deliveries were suspended between October 2020 and March 2021. Boeing temporarily resumed them in March but in May halted them again while the FAA completes an evaluation of the airframer's inspection process. Air Lease executive chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy describes the 787 situation as a "big question". He says Air Lease has not taken delivery of any of the widebodies since taking two in 787-9's in the second quarter, "not because we don't want to" but because Boeing cannot provide certificates of airworthiness. Udvar-Hazy says that if there is a recovery in 787 deliveries in 2022 the lessor could take as many as 12-15 units in 2022, representing a "catch-up" in the second and third quarters of next year. Air Lease's Airbus delivery schedule is meanwhile "pretty much on time", notes Plueger, although there are some minor delivery delays on a few single-aisles, which he says the European manufacturer attributes to Covid-19-related or supply-chain constraints. Udvar-Hazy says 737 Max deliveries are now "running fairly smoothly" and expects this will continue into 2022.

Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr has criticised Airbus's A320-family production ramp-up plan, calling on the airframer to instead seek a "sensible" level of production stability given the uncertainty on how airline markets will develop post-Covid. Spohr noted during a 3 November results briefing the concerns of aircraft lessors that a sharp rise in airframer output could lead to aircraft oversupply, while aerospace suppliers had highlighted bottlenecks in raising production volume. "I am certainly a great fan of Airbus aircraft," Spohr says. "But I must say too much capacity has always been harmful to this industry so far, be it regarding aircraft quality and delivery reliability or ultimately in terms of yields and utilisation." Noting air transport growth in China, Spohr acknowledges that Lufthansa's requirement for new single-aisle aircraft is not representative of demand Airbus sees in other regions. From a purely European perspective, he says, "there is no need for increased supply from aircraft manufacturers". In May, Airbus disclosed a plan to raise average monthly A320-family production from 40 to 45 units by year-end, and to reach 64 by the second quarter of 2023. The airframer said at the time that it was in talks with suppliers to enable 70 aircraft by the first quarter of 2024 and "investigating opportunities" to reach 75 by 2025. Spohr says: "For me it's important that [production] does not move from one extreme to the other because the supply chain has big problems with that." Citing delivery delays across a range of aircraft models and programmes in recent years – "hardly any come on time" – Spohr argues that aircraft manufacturers, suppliers, lessor and airlines should approach each other to jointly co-ordinate stable aircraft supply and demand. "As an industry, we would be well advised if we talked again with each other and not just via the public, and brought sensible production stability… in balance with global demand." He suggests that increased environmental pressure could interrupt the air travel growth seen over previous decades. "None of us knows yet how the sustainability debate will change travel behaviour over the next years."

Wizz Air has reported losses of €121 million ($140 million) for the six months to end-September, after the central European budget carrier was forced to cut prices in order to tempt customers back into the air. Revenue rose to €880 million as the carrier flew 12.5 million passengers, a near-doubling from the same period last year when markets were devastated by Covid-19 restrictions. However, the company remains in "investment mode" as it seeks to ramp up operations ahead of an expected surge next year, the much-hoped-for leap in passenger demand having yet to fully materialise. "We are stimulating demand with pricing given the continued impact of Covid-19. Additionally, FX and commodity markets continue to be volatile and are impacting our financial performance," states chief executive Jozsef Varadi. Wizz expects an operating loss in the three months to end-December of around €200 million, a result which "may carry over" into the new year, depending on operating conditions. "This will round off [financial year 2022] as a true transition year out of Covid-19 with a network, team and fleet fully prepared for the peak F23 season," adds Varadi. Load factors of around 80% are forecast for the final quarter, as the carrier deploys "very strong price stimulation to attract passengers to our service". These dynamics should dissipate as part of a strong rebound from April next year, Varadi told investors. "There is no other airline than Wizz that is able to take advantage of that," he assets. Goodbody aviation analyst Mark Simpson comments that the results are "a lot more cautious than anticipated and will require significant downgrades for this year’s forecasts". He had pencilled in a profit for the period of €56 million. Investment firm Davy calls the results "disappointing", and says the subdued outlook reflects "demand weakness in central and eastern Europe, underutilised assets (impacting unit costs) and an unhedged fuel position". Davy adds: "We remain concerned that consensus estimates are too high and don't appropriately balance fleet and capacity growth with pricing stimulation." Notable in Wizz's results are the presence of ongoing Covid-19-related issues heavily impacting the carrier's performance. Varadi cites a "very tight" sales window, for example, as the carrier has only around 25% booked for the Christmas period, an "aberration" compared with normal booking patterns. The airline has also suffered from shortages in crew that led it to wet-lease some aircraft in the period. Varadi notes that staff shortages across Europe are impacting staff retention and recruitment, and that crews face greater pressure than pilots because of their lower pay rates and greater ability to work across different professions. Wizz also highlights that it will face pressure from rising crude prices, as the company no longer employs fuel hedges having suffered large losses from its use of the instruments in the past.