By Chinelo Obogo
Airbus has disclosed their nine-month results for 2023 which shows the delivery of 488 commercial aircraft and revenues of € 42.6 billion.
Airbus Chief Executive Officer, Guillaume Faury, said: “The nine-month earnings reflect higher commercial aircraft deliveries, the good performance in helicopters as well as charges linked to the reassessment of certain satellite development programmes.
“Demand for our commercial aircraft is very strong with a continuing recovery in the widebody market. We expect the supply chain to remain challenging as we progress on the production ramp-up. In that context, we maintain our guidance for the full year.”
Gross commercial aircraft orders totalled 1,280 with net orders of 1,241 aircraft after cancellations. The order backlog amounted to 7,992 commercial aircraft at the end of September 2023. Airbus Helicopters registered 191 net orders which were well spread across programmes. Airbus Defence and Space’s order intake by value was € 8.5 billion including the renewal of the in-service support contract for Germany’s A400M fleet.
Consolidated revenues increased 12 percent year-on-year to € 42.6 billion, while a total of 488 commercial aircraft were delivered. Revenues generated by Airbus’ commercial aircraft activities increased 18 percent, mainly reflecting the higher number of deliveries. Airbus Helicopters’ deliveries increased slightly to 197 units with revenues rising three percent, reflecting the overall performance across programmes and services. Revenues at Airbus Defence and Space decreased six percent, mainly driven by a back loaded A400M delivery profile and updated estimates at Completion of certain satellite development programmes.
EBIT Adjusted related to Airbus’ commercial aircraft activities increased to € 3,216 million (9m 2022: € 2,875 million), reflecting the higher deliveries and a more favourable hedge rate, partially offset by investments for preparing the future. 9m 2022 included the non-recurring positive impact from retirement obligations partly offset by the impact resulting from international sanctions against Russia. In H1 2023 provisions were released to reflect further progress made on compliance-related topics.
The company said the ramp-up on the A220 programme is continuing towards a monthly production rate of 14 aircraft in 2026. Production on the A320 Family programme is progressing well towards the previously announced rate of 75 aircraft per month in 2026. On widebody aircraft, the Company has decided to increase the production rate for the A350 to 10 aircraft a month in 2026 and continues to target rate four for the A330 in 2024.
Airbus Helicopters’ EBIT Adjusted increased to € 417 million, reflecting the overall performance across programmes and services.