Airbus to Miss 2022 Delivery Target

Though it didn’t specify how much it would miss its target, the OEM said that the final figure would not be “materially short of the ‘around 700’ delivery target.” In 2021, Airbus delivered 661 aircraft to customers worldwide.

In the same update, the company said it delivered 68 commercial aircraft in November to 40 customers, bringing total deliveries up to that point to 565 deliveries to 72 customers for the year. The OEM received 29 new orders in November and 14 cancellations, bringing Airbus’ backlog to 7,344 aircraft.

It also said it would slow the production rate of its Airbus A320 jetliner for 2023 and 2024, making 65 instead of 75 per month. It said it hopes to regain the capacity to produce 75 per month by the middle of the decade 2025.

The European manufacturer will disclose its full-year 2022 commercial orders and delivery results in early January 2023 and overall full-year results in February 2023.

In its global market forecast that stretches between 2022 and 2041, Airbus forecasts that demand for passenger traffic will grow annually by 3.6 percent over the next 20 years. Based on that, Airbus predicts a need for 39,490 new passenger and freighter aircraft over the next 20 years. It expects 31,620 to be single-aisle and 7,870 to be widebodies.

Airbus said it predicts the demand for Freighters to reach 2,440 aircraft over the two decades, with 900 of those being new-built. With sustainability sharply in focus and an industry commitment to get to net zero in carbon emission by 2050, OEMs are also keen on deploying more climate-friendly aircraft.

According to Airbus’ report, only 20 percent of the current in-service fleet consists of the latest generation fuel-efficient aircraft and replacing older generation aircraft would be one of the most straightforward ways to decarbonize the sector.