Airbus has announced a reduction in its jet delivery target for the current year, a decision attributed to a quality issue affecting fuselage panels on its widely popular A320 family of aircraft. The company revealed its revised target of “around 790” commercial aircraft for 2025, a noticeable drop from the previously anticipated target of “around 820.”
Despite this adjustment, Airbus remains optimistic about its financial outlook, projecting an adjusted operating profit of approximately €7 billion and free cash flow before customer financing of about €4.5 billion for the full year.
This announcement adds to a challenging period for Airbus. Recently, the manufacturer warned that thousands of its A320 jets required an urgent software fix due to potential data corruption from solar radiation. Over the weekend, the majority of the approximately 6,000 affected aircraft received the necessary software update, thereby averting widespread disruption for airline customers. Following this update, Airbus shares experienced a 1.2 percent increase when trading commenced on Wednesday, after suffering a decline of over 10 percent on Monday, which marked the lowest share price since April.
The company had previously described a “supplier quality issue” concerning certain fuselage panels on the A320, necessitating inspections of more than 600 aircraft. Among these, 168 aircraft were already in service with customers. The panels in question, located at the front of the aircraft, behind the cockpit, and on both sides of the two forward doors, were found to be either too thin or too thick. Notably, Airbus emphasized that this quality issue does not compromise the flight safety of the affected aircraft.
Prior to these incidents, the delivery target was already viewed as ambitious by investors, with Airbus having delivered 585 commercial aircraft by the end of October. This left the company with a substantial challenge to meet the goal of around 820 deliveries by the end of 2025. The manufacturer’s operations have been hindered by ongoing supply-chain disruptions, including a shortage of engines, as well as technical issues related to the engines on its newer A320 jets powered by Pratt & Whitney, which have necessitated the grounding of numerous jets for maintenance.
