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Record annual aircraft orders for the European manufacturer and an 11% increase in deliveries in 2023, a figure that allows Airbus to maintain its lead over Boeing for the fifth consecutive year. Surpassing the record set in 2014, gross orders stood at 2,319 aircraft (2,094 net ones after cancellations), in a rush by airlines to renew their fleets to respond to the recovery of air traffic after the pandemic, which occurred before expected.
Data beyond estimates
Strong demand from carriers pushed “sales and deliveries above our target,” said Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus. Specifically, the orders include 1,835 A320 Family aircraft and 300 A350 Family aircraft. The delivery figure slightly exceeds the target of 720 aircraft indicated by Toulouse at the beginning of the year and exceeds that of 2022 with 661 units, bringing its order book to 8,598 aircraft. New this year is the return of large widebody planes “much earlier than expected and with vigor,” said Christian Scherer, Airbus’ new CEO of the commercial division.
“It is encouraging that Airbus was able to maintain and hit the target,” Bank of America analysts write in a note and for 2024 they predict another step with 800 deliveries. «There is scope for further margin expansion of Airbus’ commercial division in the medium term, driven by increasing production rates, positive turnover on the A320 family, while the A350 becomes a positive contributor to the group’s results together to the slowdown in the pace of hiring”.
On the stock market, Airbus closed yesterday at -0.84% and has achieved a gain of 3 percent since the beginning of the year. The new generation of aircraft consume 25% less fuel with CO2 emissions reduced by 25% and today represent 30% of the operational Airbus fleet. Not only growth, but also replacements with more sustainable aircraft to reach 2030 when the new era of hydrogen aviation will begin, as was confirmed during the press conference. The CEO added that he is confident that Airbus will reach its monthly delivery target of 75 A320 aircraft in 2026, with ten active assembly lines. «The situation in the supply chain is still tense, but it is improving and in 2024 we will continue to grow (..). The pre-Covid target of 870 planes will not be reached this year, but later.”
«No pressure on deliveries»
When asked if the pressure on deliveries could put the quality of the products at risk, Faury replied: “We will not deliver at the speed that some would like.” Airbus has among its suppliers Spirit Aerosystems, the manufacturer of the fuselages of the B737 MAX: «We work closely with our suppliers and therefore also with Spirit», the number one limited himself to saying. Airbus grew in the years in which Boeing had to face the halt to the production of the Boeing 737 Max 8 after the two accidents in 2018 and 2019, also gaining ground on the stock market: in one year the Airbus stock gained 25 percent and Boeing the 10.2 percent.