Toulouse news

Airbus is to cut commercial aircraft production by roughly one third across the board as it deals with the fall-out of the coronavirus crisis.

The aircraft manufacturer plans to produce 40 A320neo family per month on average, down from a previous near-term target of 63. Airbus will also reduce A330/A330neo output to two aircraft per month from the pre-crisis production level of 40 per year.  A350 deliveries are reduced from between nine and ten aircraft to just six per month.

Airbus supplied 122 aircraft in the first quarter, 36 of which were in March. They included two A220s, 19 A320neos, one A321ceo, ten A321neos, one A330-200 and three A350s according to the company’s latest orders and delivery figures. Airbus produced 60 more aircraft that were not delivered in the quarter because of the COVID-19 impact.

The A330 will remain a profitable programme, according to Airbus, but the A350 will face “more headwinds” having just moved into profitability in 2019.  Quite what happens to the A380 production hangar when that line closes in 2021 is questionable with a transfer of A321 from Hamburg now ruled out.  The final delivery could be earlier dependent on Emirates and ANA, the remaining customers.

Airbus is removing all costs that are not “absolutely necessary” as the business is shrinking significantly. However, development programmes such as the A321XLR that Airbus has committed to will not be touched and timelines not changed.

www.airbus.com

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