(Paris) Airbus will “just miss” its target of 700 aircraft delivered in 2022, the European aircraft manufacturer said in a press release on Tuesday.
The aircraft manufacturer had however reiterated its objective at the end of October to deliver 700 planes in 2022. But it remained faced with the difficulties of its global chain of suppliers, weakened by the pandemic.
It continued to ramp up its production, with 68 aircraft delivered in November. But with a total of 565 aircraft over the first eleven months of the year, it remains far from its initial objective.
Airbus also said that as this “complex environment will persist longer than expected”, it will “adjust” the ramp-up of the A320 family of single-aisle aircraft (A319, A320 and A321).
It will produce 65 units per month in 2023, but also in 2024, and the target of 75 aircraft per month, planned to meet robust demand from airlines, will be reached “by halfway through the decade”.
Airbus has, however, maintained its financial targets for 2022. It is aiming for an adjusted operating profit of 5.5 billion euros in 2022 and is revising its free cash flow forecast upwards, now expecting 4.5 billion euros, against 3.5 previously, reflecting in particular the appreciation of the dollar against the euro.
In November, the group received 29 new orders and experienced 14 cancellations.
Deliveries are a reliable indicator of profitability in aerospace, with customers paying most of the bill when they take possession of the planes.