Airbus CEO wants to lift A320 family production rates

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said the results reflected a solid performance across commercial aircraft, helicopter and defence businesses, adding:

“Looking beyond 2022, we see continuing strong growth in commercial aircraft demand driven by the A320 Family. As a result, we are now working with our industry partners to increase A320 family production rates further to 75 aircraft a month in 2025.”

On March 31, Airbus had an unfilled order backlog of 7,023 aircraft, with 90% or 6,357 being single-aisle aircraft. There were also 226 A330s and 440 A350s in backlog.

Steps are already in place to lift A320 production to 65 per month by the summer of 2023. To raise that to 75 per month, Airbus will increase capacity at its existing sites and grow the industrial footprint of its Mobile, US, plant. It is working with its suppliers and partners to lift the rate from 65 in 2023 to 75 in 2025.

Looking ahead, Faury said the 2022 guidance was unchanged, even though the risk profile for the rest of the year has become challenging due to the complex geopolitical and economic environment.

Current 2022 guidance is to deliver 720 commercial aircraft, an EBIT Adjusted of €5.5 billion and free cash flow before M&A and Customer Financing of €3.5 billion.

As the basis for its 2022 guidance, Airbus assumes no further disruptions to the world economy, air traffic, the company’s internal operations, and its ability to deliver products and services.

Based on its first-quarter performance and the quickening pace of commercial activity, Airbus looks to have a good chance of reaching its 2022 targets.