KUALA LUMPUR: Up to seven of Malaysia Airlines Bhd aircraft are believed to be grounded longer than planned, leading to a number of flight delays and cancellations, industry sources said.

The grounded aircraft are pending the availability of new engines and engine parts believed to be from aircraft engine makers CFM International and Pratt and Whitney.

Business Times learnt that these aircraft on ground are two Airbus A330-300, one A350-900 while the rest are the Boeing B737-NG (new generation).

The aircraft are said to be waiting for new engines and engine components which are yet to be received.

"The maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) turnaround time is longer than what is planned because of the shortages of engines and engine parts. It's mostly related to the supply chain on both CFM and Pratt and Whitney because the engine parts are not made available fast enough.

"So, the time at the shop (aircraft MRO workshop where engines and parts are repaired and serviced) is longer than what is planned," an aviation source told Business Times today.

Checks by Business Times on Airfleets.Net showed that the B737s are powered by CFM56 engines while the A330-300s are using the Pratt and Whitney PW4168A engines.

The A350 is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine.

Business Times has reached out to Malaysia Airlines parent Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), CFM International, Pratt and Whitney, and Rolls-Royce's aviation division for comment.

At press time, MAG and Rolls-Royce had responded to queries.

A spokesperson for Rolls-Royce said: "One of our engines was damaged folliwing a bird strike and is awaiting spare parts. 

"Like others in the industry, we are impacted by constraint in the supply chain and this means parts are taking longer to become available. We're working closely with our customer to complete this engine repair as soon as possible."

It is also learnt that Malaysia Airlines had sub-contracted the engine maintenance work to the OEMs and approved engine MROs.

Another aviation industry source said it is normal for an airline to outsource some of its aircraft maintenance works as it involves many different types of servicing, repair and replacement technicalities that require the certification and approval of various local and international aviation regulators and aviation bodies.

Not all aircraft MRO companies are certified to do engineering works on all types of airplanes, the source added.

"Certain parts of the plane, the engine, could be subcontracted to the OEM or an approved engine MRO company. (An airline's) in-house engineers could maybe do certain technical checks or paint the aircraft.

"Sometimes airlines would send their planes to another country for a certain MRO work because the MRO company there has the qualification and approval (from authorities) to do the job. It's not like sending different types of cars to a workshop where the mechanic fixes everything in a day."

The source explained that one aircraft MRO company, for example, may be qualified to fix "A" job for aircraft model "Y" while the "B, C, D" jobs for either aircraft type "Y" or "G" would have to be done by another company in another country,

"This is aviation industry we're talking about. It is a highly regulated industry and safety cannot be compromised," he said.

The aviation industry has been hard hit by supply chain challenges after the pandemic which left many OEMs struggling to cope with the demand for new aircraft, engines and aircraft parts.

The struggle snowballed to commercial airline operators worldwide as they face issues with shortages of new fleet and technical issues that comes with operating ageing airplanes.

Airlines also had to manage their own operational challenges as well as the wrath of passengers who had to face flight delays and cancellations.

According to a KPMG's Aviation Leaders Report 2024 on OEM and fleet challenges, the OEMs are struggling to deliver their backlog of airframes and engines due to the continuous supply chain and manufacturing issues.

"Some two years following the resumption of air travel, the manufacturing sector has yet to return to full force due to ongoing shortages of skilled labour, resources, raw materials and inflationary costs coupled with a tense geopolitical environment," KPMG said in the report.

Another aviation industry contact said the global shortages of aircraft parts and new aircraft are making it more challenging for commercial airlines to operate especially when they have to extend the operations of ageing airplanes.

"Operating older planes undoubtedly increases the need for maintenance. You need to check for wear and tear (of all the aircraft parts). You need to do more frequent inspections. There are parts that need replacement but the replacement (parts) is not available fast enough," the source said.

The source added that these resulted in higher MRO costs for airlines, longer ground time which is also a cost to airlines as well as potential disruption to flight schedules when the airplanes had to wait for new parts or new engines to arrive.

MAG last week said the flight delays and cancellations were caused by supply chain constraints, manpower challenges and other external factors as part of continuing normalisation of global aviation operations post-pandemic.

"We are working closely with our aircraft and engine manufacturers, and a wide range of suppliers to comprehensively address supply chain and technical issues," the group said in a statement.

MAG had decided to temporarily reduce its network between August and December 2024 to mitigate its operational challenges.

On Aug 26, Business Times reported that Malaysia Airlines was temporarily reducing the flight frequency for 13 international destinations in its route network.

These included Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Denpasar, Ho Chi Minh, Jakarta, Jeddah, Medan Kualanamu, Mumbai, Osaka-Kansai, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai Pu Dong, Singapore, Tokyo-Narita and Yangon from Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia Airlines will also operate its A350-900XWB (extra widebody) from Kuala Lumpur to Shanghai Pu Dong in the first half of September. The A350 will replace the A330 that is scheduled to operate the route on Sept 1, 6 and 13.

Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines' flight frequency cut is lauded by the founder of aviation consultancy, Endau Analytics and aviation analyst, Shukor Yusof.

In a post on LinkedIn, Shukor wrote that the move was "drastic but necessary step" and he credited MAG's management to focus on safety.

However, he said the move would also result in financial loss for Malaysia Airlines although the amount is currently unclear.

"But a simple back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests this could be in the hundreds of million (of ringgit)."

"This means MAG will end its financial year deep in the red, despite having been cash positive for much of this year," Shukor wrote, adding that Malaysia Airlines would suffer reputational damage too.

On Wednesday, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said a shortage of aircraft engineers and mechanical components are believed to be the cause of Malaysia Airlines' recent flight delays and disruptions.

An audit by the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia from June 24-28 revealed that 63 out of 411 qualified MAB Engineering engineers who can officially certify the safety of an aircraft are no longer working with the company.

Shukor opined that there is not a single factor which resulted in Malaysia Airlines' series of flight delays and disruptions as it is a mixture of external and internal events and issues that have been plaguing the airline even before the pandemic which should have been dealt with.

"When there is a cataclysm such as this, it is an opportune time to overhaul existing concepts and strategies that have become obsolete because the aviation industry moves at speeds many carriers struggle to keep pace with."

"What the carrier and its management do to resolve these problems in the coming weeks and months, and how it mitigate risks, will go a long way to strengthen the balance sheet and improve morale amongst staff and the travelling public," Shukor wrote.

MAG also said the delay of its B737 MAX 8 airplanes are contributing to the operational challenges that Malaysia Airlines is facing.

Its group managing director Datuk Captain Izham Ismail told Business Times on Aug 14 that he hoped to receive seven of the 25 B737s ordered this year.

"We were supposed to receive 12 but now it's seven. Will the number drop further? Maybe. We hope not but we have made arrangements to extend (the lease of) some of our current B737-NGs.

MAG is also mulling either the A321 or A320 or the B737 MAX 8 for its second batch of new narrowbody aircraft order.

Izham said the request for proposal for the new order would be announced by year-end although many believed it would be in September.

He also said it was crucial for Malaysia Airlines to operate a new fleet in order to manage a better cost structure and offer improved product and services to its passengers instead of continuously flying ageing airplanes.

"We cannot continue to operate ageing airplanes. No doubt our airplanes are safe but our planes are tired. That requires investment," Izham said.

https://www.nst.com.my/business/corporate/2024/08/1098622/seven-malaysia-airlines-aircraft-grounded-longer-planned-sources