Airbus SE has had to turn down some aircraft orders because of its huge backlog, highlighting the mismatch between the continued strong demand from airlines and manufacturers struggling to produce their planes fast enough.

There is more demand in the market than Airbus’ ability to supply its narrow-body planes, chief executive officer Guillaume Faury said on Tuesday in an interview at the Farnborough Air Show. 

“Today we have to refuse orders, because we are not able to deliver in the time frame that is requested,” Faury said. “If there’s a bit of softening of the market, that’s no problem for us.”

Airbus is sold out on most of its aircraft, and there are few slots opening up before the end of the decade. At the same time, efforts to ramp up output have been stymied by persistent supply-chain snags, meaning the company can’t accelerate production as quickly as it would like. Airbus delayed its planned production increase to 75 A320 family aircraft a month in June, and also said it would not deliver the number of jets this year originally envisioned. 

Faury said he expects the supply-chain issues to last for a few years, and the company is seeking to find the right balance between supply and demand.

“We have thousands of suppliers, and when you have just a couple of them, a few of them that are late on the ramp-up, that’s slowing down everybody,” Faury said. 

  - Bloomberg