Asia's airlines blame supply chain woes for disrupted operations

Asia-Pacific travel demand has recovered from the pandemic, but earnings at the region's airlines are under pressure from supply chain problems disrupting operations and exposing them to strengthening consumer protection rules, industry executives say. A shortage of parts, labour and new planes as the aviation industry emerged from the pandemic has coincided with higher-than-expected repairs needed on the latest-generation engines. "The supply chain issue is the biggest challenge the industry is facing," Subhas Menon, the director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) said at the trade body's annual meeting in Brunei this week. Turnaround times for engine maintenance are at record lengths, with airlines having to cut flights, move parts around and lease stop-gap engines or planes to keep operations ticking. Thai Airways CEO Chai Eamsiri said servicing the Rolls-Royce (OTC:RYCEY) engines on its Boeing (NYSE:BA) 787 jets used to take around three months, but that has blown out to about six. "We have to stretch the aircraft. We used to operate 12.5 hours a day, now we have to stretch it to 13 plus," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the gathering. SUPPLY CHAIN FRUSTRATION The heads of major carriers including Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines (OTC:SINGY), Malaysia Airlines and Kazakhstan's Air Astana expressed frustration with maintenance times and said governments trying to improve consumer protections should stop placing the blame on airlines for delays. "The root cause is coming from the supply chain...But we are the one facing the customer," Eamsiri told the meeting. Malaysia, Australia, Thailand and the Philippines are among the countries beefing up airline consumer protections to require