By Robert Wall

FARNBOROUGH, England--Airbus SE (AIR.FR) Chief Executive Tom Enders said Wednesday that the company faced "a hell of a race" to meet its target of delivering around 800 jetliners this year, after supplier bottlenecks caused handovers to lag in the first six months.

Mr. Enders told investors the company was seeing encouraging signs that deliveries were stepping up, including 80 plane deliveries last month. In the first six months, the company delivered only 303 jetliners against a full-year target of 800.

Airbus this year had more than 100 planes built ready for delivery but for absent engines. "We are now trying to equip all these aircraft with engines and get them off the tarmac," Mr. Enders said. He added "the engine makers are catching up."

Airbus single-aisle planes, those most affected by delays, are powered either by engines from CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric Co. (GE) and SAFRAN SA (SAF.FR), and Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (UTX).

Write to Robetr Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 18, 2018 03:59 ET (07:59 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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