Originally Posted by
tdracer
Your assumption is flawed. Production rate does not equal delivery rate over the short term. The production rate is reasonably constant month to month, for what should be obvious reasons. Delivery rate varies dramatically month to month for a variety of reasons. A major reason is that operators tend to want to take delivery at certain times of year - such as right before the big summer season, and not want to take delivery in the middle of the winter when traffic is slow (their own version of 'just in time' supply). Since it's not feasible to produce 8 aircraft one month, and 20 the next, they do what's known as 'build ahead' - the aircraft are tested and prepped for delivery, then parked for a month or more until the operator is ready to take delivery.
So you will agree aircraft ready for delivery are fully complete and signed off ready for service?
Or there is more to be done, such as certification to fly or export?
Current documented (I did not access the above) was 5 units of the "build ahead" over both plants - you implied that had grown to 12 in one plant from your observation and assumed it was 24ish over both plants.
Well we now know why the cut in deliveries was announced - too much stock on hand..