Airbus comes close to 2024 delivery target after year-end sprint, reports FT

LONDON: Airbus, the world’s biggest aeroplane maker, came within a whisker of its annual delivery target for 2024 following an end-of-year sprint to get more aircraft to customers despite persistent supply chain disruptions.

The European aerospace and defence group said it delivered 766 planes to airlines and lessons, more than the 735 it delivered in 2023, but just shy of its stated ambition to hand over “around 770” commercial aircraft.

The company is widely expected to have retained its crown as the world’s biggest plane maker by deliveries for the sixth year in a row ahead of troubled competitor Boeing.

Its US rival is expected to issue its numbers next week but has suffered a turbulent 12 months with issues with its 737 Max compounded by the blowout of a section of one of its aircraft, regulatory scrutiny, labour strikes and changes in top management.

Airbus’s A321neo jet accounted for 60 percent of its narrow-body deliveries last year, underlining the model’s status as the world’s best-selling aircraft.

The group had been under pressure to step up shipments in the last two months of 2024 after struggling to raise output during the year in the face of supply chain challenges and engine delays. The company on Thursday said it delivered 123 aircraft in December alone, up from the 112 jets it handed over in the same month in 2023.

Airbus unsettled investors in June after issuing a profit warning and cutting back its original end-of-year delivery target from roughly 800 to about 770. It also pushed back its target of producing 75 aircraft a month of its best-selling A320 family of jets from 2026 to 2027.