Loganair frustrated as UK’s EASA withdrawal aggravates supply-chain problems

Scottish carrier Loganair is irritated that the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency is exacerbating problems with the post-pandemic supply chain. The airline states that constraints on parts availability have resulted in lead times for routine spares increasing from a “matter of hours to several days”, with a knock-on effect on the time needed to return aircraft to service. Loganair says industry forecasts predict a lessening of the issue over the course of this year. But the airline points out that it faces “unwelcome delays” in spares import, as well as recertification of parts, owing to the UK’s non-membership of EASA. “All of this has a direct impact on service delivery for our customers, which we have only been able to partly mitigate through increased aircraft standby coverage and efforts – backed by significant capital expenditure – to increase our in-house holding of aircraft spares,” it says in its latest full-year financial disclosure. The airline says its on-time performance has improved since its last financial year, spanning 2022-23, but the supply-chain issues are keeping it “below our targeted levels”. Loganair turned in a pre-tax profit of GBP10.96m for the 12 months to 31 March 2023, more than double the previous year, on revenues of GBP247.3m. The carrier states that this has enabled the “start of a repair” to its balance sheet, after two difficult years of trading.<br/>