Airbus to Increase Deliveries, Bolstering Position as Largest Plane Maker
Airbus announced on Thursday that it will be ramping up deliveries this year, cementing its position as the largest plane maker in the world. The European aerospace giant plans to deliver around 800 jets to customers in 2024, including the popular single-aisle A320neo, its main competitor to the troubled Boeing 737 Max line of airliners. This surge in deliveries is intended to meet the sharp recovery in demand for air travel following pandemic lockdowns, according to Guillaume Faury, the company’s chief executive. The move comes at a time when Airbus is pulling further ahead of Boeing, which is currently grappling with the fallout from a major safety crisis involving its 737 Max line.
In addition to increasing deliveries, Airbus also reported a record 2,094 commercial aircraft orders last year, further adding to its extensive backlog of 8,598 commercial aircraft at the end of 2023. The company’s profit saw a small increase from the previous year, with adjusted earnings of 5.8 billion euros ($6.2 billion) in 2023, on revenue of more than €65 billion.
Amidst its success, Airbus is also preparing for the future by working on a successor for the A320neo, which is expected to be more fuel-efficient and made entirely with sustainable or synthetic materials. The new plane, known as the Next Generation Single Aisle, is intended to burn around 20 percent less fuel per seat and is expected to take to the skies by the mid- to late 2030s.
As Airbus continues to grow and expand its lead over Boeing, industry analysts are optimistic about the company’s future. The move to prioritize quality and safety over quantity has been praised by analysts, who point to the company’s strong culture of risk management and its pandemic-era policies to support that culture. Airbus’s decision to keep most of its employees on partly paid furlough during the pandemic, in contrast to Boeing’s layoffs, reflects a commitment to retaining seasoned, longtime employees and maintaining quality and safety controls. Overall, Airbus’s ability to meet the challenge of producing thousands of jets on a faster scale has positioned it as a formidable leader in the aviation industry.