Flight cancellations partly caused by 'shortage of spare parts due to supply chain issues': Scoot

Esther Loi
The Straits Times
May 9, 2024

Budget airline Scoot has attributed its recent spate of flight disruptions to a shortage of spare parts arising from supply chain issues.

Its latest comments came a day after The Straits Times reported on May 8 that 33 Scoot flights scheduled to leave or land at Changi Airport were cancelled over five days from May 2 to 6.

On May 7, two Scoot flights were re-timed and there was no cancellation. On May 8, one Scoot flight was re-timed and there was no cancellation. No Scoot flight was disrupted on May 9.

In a statement to ST on May 9, Scoot, the low-cost arm of Singapore Airlines (SIA), said: “Scoot can confirm that several flights scheduled in May 2024 are cancelled due to a variety of operational reasons, including aircraft unavailability because of a shortage of spare parts due to supply chain issues.”

The airline said the shortage is affecting the aviation industry as a whole, but did not elaborate on the affected spare parts and aircraft types, citing commercial sensitivities. It also did not comment on the other operational reasons for the cancellations.

The airline apologised again for the inconvenience the disruption caused, adding that it proactively contacted all affected customers and re-accommodated most of them on other flights, including on SIA and Scoot.

Customers may also seek a full refund for the unused portion of their tickets, Scoot said.

Mr Mayur Patel, head of Asia at aviation data consultancy OAG, said many airlines are revising their flight schedules due to cancellations arising from checks and repairs for a rare manufacturing flaw with Pratt & Whitney jet engines.

Scoot said in March that three of its Airbus A320neos were grounded due to the manufacturing flaws, up from two before.

But a shortage of spare parts, said Mr Patel, could extend beyond the engines to other parts of an aircraft, such as auxiliary power units that generate electricity and plane cabins.

Mr Patel noted that the aviation industry has been struggling with widespread disruption to production lines even after the Covid-19 pandemic, due to increased demand for spare parts from parked aircraft needing active maintenance and increased corrosion arising from high humidity levels such as in Singapore’s climate.

He said it is common for such supply chain issues to cause flight disruptions across the board.

The increased demand for spare parts could also be due to a surge in aircraft orders as travel rebounds to pre-pandemic levels, and the replacement of parts for faulty Boeing 737 Max jets involved in incidents, added Mr Patel.

Mr Greg Waldron, the Singapore-based Asia managing editor of aviation publication FlightGlobal, observed that airlines have been bedevilled by supply chain issues for some time.

Kenya Airways – one of Africa’s biggest carriers – faced spare-parts shortages in January 2023 owing to the Russian-Ukraine war, which paralysed the aviation supply chain from Russia. It later announced potential flight disruptions in the second half of December 2023, as one or more of its aircraft had to stay on the ground for maintenance.

In the first quarter of 2024, Japan’s largest airline, All Nippon Airways, cut about 30 domestic and international flights per day – nearly 4 per cent of its daily services – to perform engine checks on aircraft with Pratt & Whitney jet engines.

Mr Patel said some solutions include extending the leases of aircraft – which Scoot had done for a number of its older A320ceos to mitigate the impact of the grounding of its A320neos – and leasing aircraft and crew from another operator to ensure that flights go ahead as planned.

Mr Waldron added that it is essential for airlines to identify the specific aircraft parts or systems facing supply chain disruptions and build up resilience in these areas, such as by increasing the supply of spares.

Some past and present Scoot cabin crew and pilots had earlier told ST about a possible manpower shortage, with cabin crew on standby being called up almost 100 per cent of the time.

Citing a labour crunch and engine and aircraft issues as possible reasons for flight cancellations, aviation analysts noted that a labour shortage has also been a significant problem for the aviation industry.