Airbus maintains its 2018 aircraft delivery targets despite engine delays

Airbus maintains its targets for aircraft deliveries this year, which it has fixed around 800 aircraft, despite delays in supplying engines for the A320neo related to the difficulties faced by Pratt & Whitney.

" We maintain our goal to deliver around 800 aircraft this year, "said a spokesman to AFP.

The Bloomberg agency said Monday that delays in deliveries Pratt & Whitney engines, which equip near half of the re-motorized medium-haul of the European aircraft manufacturer, risked to make him miss its objective of annual deliveries.

The title Airbus seemed to suffer Monday on the Paris Stock Exchange. After losing nearly 3% at the opening, it yielded 2.07% to 98.18 euros at 11.30 am in a market down 1.06%.

Maturity problems Pratt & Whitney engines as well that difficulties with the Leap, developed by Safran and General Electric in their joint venture CFM International, have slowed deliveries of A320neo.

At the presentation of the results of the first quarter of 2018 at the end of April, the management of Airbus had indicated that its delivery target this year depended on the engine manufacturer's ability to deliver the engines on time.

"The goal of delivering approximately 800 commercial aircraft augurs (…) a plan load particularly intense this year, "warned Tom Enders, the executive chairman. This objective is "provided that the engine manufacturers respect their commitments."

But he felt that "the confidence expressed by the engine and their ability to honor their commitments allow us to confirm our forecasts for the full year." [19659002] Tom Enders had also cursed the fact that Airbus had "many gliders + parked today in Toulouse and Hamburg". "We are talking about dozens of + gliders + who need engines during the second half of the year to be delivered," he insisted.

Remains that despite these recurring difficulties around engine deliveries for two years, Airbus has managed to deliver a record number of aircraft in 2017, or 718 aircraft, against an initial target of 700 deliveries. Same thing in 2016, with exceeded delivery targets with 688 aircraft to its customers.

Today, Airbus even wants to go further and would like to increase the rate of production of the A320neo to meet the market demand

"From a commercial point of view, from demand, we see quite solid elements to support a rate going even higher, up to 70 or more," Tom Enders said. The aircraft manufacturer is currently producing 63 A320neo per month in the second half of 2019.