Exasperation trumped exuberance at aviation’s largest annual trade expo, as airline executives lamented a shortage of Boeing Co. and Airbus SE aircraft that’s shown no signs of letting up.

The plane-making duopoly is still struggling to recover from a COVID-19 pandemic that ripped through the supply chain, forcing suppliers to shed workers with decades of experience.

Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss, right, and Airbus’s Christian Scherer at Farnborough Airshow. They and other airline industry leaders are dealing with a backlog in production.

Airbus has put the brakes on an ambitious production ramp-up, while an in-flight fuselage blowout on a 737 Max in January tipped Boeing into a crisis that’s sapped output.

Airlines eager to grow are instead having to pare back.

“This is a moment of pure frustration,” FlyDubai Chief Executive Officer Ghaith Al Ghaith said at the Farnborough Airshow outside of London.

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