The company has delivered about 90 civil aircraft so far in December. — Bloomberg
AMSTERDAM: Airbus SE is churning out aircraft at a rapid clip in the final days of the year, with confidence building at the European planemaker that it can achieve the delivery goal it was forced to cut only a few weeks ago, according to people familiar with the situation.
The company has delivered about 90 civil aircraft so far in December, with another 35 or so earmarked for delivery, meaning they have completed customer acceptance flights, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the figures aren’t public.
Another person said management has no indication at this point that it might need to reduce its target again.
Airbus officials declined to comment. The company is set to unveil its official numbers for orders and deliveries in December early next month, and Airbus will also set a new target for annual handovers.
Airbus is seeking to avoid the ignominy of falling short of the closely watched delivery target that it lowered just earlier this month.
The company made the revision after a series of glitches involving its bestselling A320 model, including a massive recall for a software upgrade and then the discovery of fuselage panels on the same plane model that didn’t meet specifications and require extra inspections.
According to its latest projection, the company aims to hand over about 790 aircraft this year, 30 fewer than its original goal.
That requires delivery of 133 jets this month, almost double the number achieved in November.
While Airbus has typically accelerated factory work in the final weeks of the year, this year’s race to the finish line is almost unprecedented in its ferocity.
Aircraft deliveries at both Airbus and Boeing Co are closely watched performance metrics because they are the biggest source of the two companies’ cash and provide a good indication of the supply-network stability.
Airbus in particular has struggled for years sourcing components – from interior parts to engines – on time, often leaving it with aircraft that aren’t quite ready for handover.
Airbus this week won about US$8bil in orders from two Chinese airlines, both of which planned to buy its A320 family of jets.
Boeing, meanwhile, has managed to pull itself out of a lengthy crisis.
The US planemaker has raised monthly production numbers and booked more orders, in part amid political backing from US President Donald Trump, who has used the company as a tool of economic statecraft to make deals with other countries. — Bloomberg
