Airbus cuts 2024 aircraft delivery target
FILE – Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury presents the European aerospace giant full year results, Feb. 15, 2024 in Blagnac, near Toulouse, southwestern France. In the latest round of their decades-long battle for dominance in commercial aircraft, Europe’s Airbus has established a clear sales lead over Boeing as the American company deals with the fallout from manufacturing troubles and ongoing safety concerns. (AP Photo/Fred Scheiber, File)
Paris, France — European aerospace giant Airbus said Monday it would deliver fewer aircraft than previously planned in 2024 due to supply chain problems.
It also announced it would book a charge of 900 million euros ($965 million) for its satellite business.
READ: Airbus net profit soared 28% in first quarter
“In commercial aircraft, Airbus is facing persistent specific supply chain issues mainly in engines, aerostructures and cabin equipment,” the company said in a statement.
It said it now intends to deliver around 770 commercial aircraft in 2024, down from the 800 it forecast at the beginning of the year.
It delivered 735 commercial aircraft last year.
Deliveries are key for Airbus’s finances as it gets paid when aircraft are transferred to customers.
Airbus also announced that Space Systems management team had conducted an extensive review of all programs and decided to make the 900-million-euro charge against first-half earnings.
READ: Boeing, Airbus supplier keen on expanding PH operations
It said the charge was “mainly related to updated assumptions on schedules, workload, sourcing, risks and costs over the lifetime of certain telecommunications, navigation and observation programmes”.
Airbus also reduced its forecast for 2024 operating earnings to 5.5 billion euros, down from its previous guidance of between 6.5 and 7.0 billion euros.
It posted an operating profit (earnings before interest charges and taxes) of 4.6 billion euros last year.
Airbus reported a net profit of 595 million euros in the first quarter through rising deliveries and production, delivering 142 commercial planes compared with 127 over the same period in 2023.
