(Bloomberg) — Airbus SE notched an improvement in February aircraft deliveries from January’s subpar showing, indicating progress in contending with supplier challenges that have hindered output at the European planemaker.
The company likely delivered between 35 and 39 jetliners last month, based on estimates from aviation consultancy Cirium Ascend. Its January total of 25 fell below Boeing Co.’s — marking a rare loss to its US rival in the closely watched metric.
Airbus declined to comment ahead of official February figures expected in the next week or so. The company has been struggling with a shortage of engines and the knock-on effect of troubles at a major supplier of structural parts, Spirit Aerosystems Holdings Inc.
While February marks an improvement, a two-month total of as many as 64 aircraft would still amount to the slowest start of a year for Airbus since 2021, when its factories were still in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Airbus shares fell last month when Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury said issues at Spirit would affect production of its A350 twin-aisle and A220 single-aisle jets in the first months of the year. This will slow the ramp-up of the programs, while the engine shortage is hurting output of the planemaker’s top-selling A320 narrowbody family.
Faury said then that Airbus expects to deliver fewer aircraft in the first quarter of 2025 than a year earlier, adding that the situation should “normalize” in the second half.
Airbus is buying back so-called work packages on the A220 and A350 as most of Spirit is reabsorbed into its former owner, Boeing — but the European company won’t gain control of its parts until July.
The world’s largest planemaker set a goal of handing over 820 aircraft this year, an increase from 2024 but below the pre-Covid peak of 863 planes in 2019. Last year, Airbus’s January-February output totaled 79 jets.
“Airbus have to pick up pace quickly if they are to achieve 820,” said Rob Morris, Cirium Ascend’s global head of consultancy.
Monthly deliveries are a closely watched metric for the planemaking duopoly because the bulk of the payment for an aircraft is released when the jet is handed over.
Production typically starts slowly for Airbus and picks up pace through the year. The first two months’ results were likely baked into the the forecast the company made on Feb. 20, Morris said.
“I can’t believe that Airbus would issue guidance just a couple of weeks ago that isn’t achievable,” he said.
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