PARIS – Airbus said Monday it has discovered an industrial quality issue affecting metal panels on a “limited” number of A320-family aircraft, confirming a Reuters report, the latest challenge for the plane-maker after a weekend recall of its jets.

The company’s shares fell as much as 10%, accelerating earlier losses as the industrial issue eclipsed the impact of the plane-maker’s decision to ground thousands of A320 jets for a software update..

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson said the company was inspecting all aircraft potentially affected and that only a portion of them will need further action to be taken.

“The source of the issue has been identified, contained and all newly produced panels conform to all requirements,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that it was a supplier issue but declined to name them. Airbus has both internal and external suppliers for its aerostructures.

The problems emerged as Airbus is beefing up efforts to meet challenging delivery targets for the year and has also been distracted by a weekend recall of jets over a software bug.

The suspected production flaw is delaying some deliveries but there are no immediate indications that it has reached aircraft in service, industry sources said, asking not to be named. The origin of the problem could not immediately be identified.

A person with direct knowledge of the matter said some deliveries were already being impacted, but there was no immediate confirmation of how many nor for how long.

Industry sources said the plane-maker delivered 72 aircraft in November, fewer than many analysts had previously expected and bringing the total for the year so far to 657.

It is targeting “around 820” deliveries for the year, meaning it would have to reach a record performance of more than 160 jets in December.

The record for the final month of the year was 138 in 2019.

Analysts were divided on whether the world’s largest airplane maker will meet the delivery goals, which determine revenue and cash flow as airlines pay much of a plane’s value on delivery.

Jefferies analyst Chloe Lemarie, who tracks the handover of aircraft and is forecasting 71 deliveries for November, said the month’s performance was weaker than expected.

The target remains within reach, however, as underlying production is rising, she added in a note to investors issued before word emerged of the reported quality problem.

Independent aviation analyst Rob Morris said Airbus could reach about 800 deliveries – which others say might be enough to claim victory based on the wording of its forecast – but with some risk that the final outcome will be “marginally lower.”