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Airbus has reaffirmed its earlier target of delivering “around 770” commercial aircraft by the end of the year despite persistent supply chain challenges that have hampered plans to increase production.
The world’s largest plane maker posted higher than expected profit for the third quarter, with adjusted operating earnings rising 39 per cent to €1.4bn in the third quarter as revenues rose 5 per cent to €15.7bn.
Guillaume Faury, Airbus chief executive, said the company had seen “strong demand” across its product range in the first nine months of the year.
He added Airbus was “constantly adapting to a complex and fast-changing operating environment marked by geopolitical uncertainties and specific supply chain challenges” that had materialised in the course of 2024.
The European aerospace and defence company had unnerved investors in June when it cut its annual profit forecast and lowered its full-year commercial aircraft delivery target from near 800 to “around 770”, citing a degraded operating environment and problems in its space business.
The company said at the time it was facing “persistent specific supply chain issues mainly in engines, aerostructures and cabin equipment”.
Airbus on Wednesday also said the board would propose a third term for Faury to stay as chief executive when his current three-year mandate expired in 2025.
It added that it had chosen the chief executive of Germany’s MTU Aero Engines, Lars Wagner, to be the designated successor to Christian Scherer, who currently heads Airbus’s commercial aircraft division. Wagner will join Airbus when his term at MTU finishes, expected at the end of 2025.
The company said it had delivered 497 commercial planes at the end of September, an increase of 1.8 per cent over the 488 it delivered at the same time last year.
Airbus will need to deliver 273 aircraft in the final three months of the year to meet its target. Although the group usually speeds up deliveries towards the end of the year, analysts had previously questioned whether the company would be able to meet its goal given supply chain problems.
Airbus on Wednesday also reiterated its previous financial guidance that it expected to deliver adjusted earnings before interest and tax of €5.5bn for the full year. Free cash flow before mergers and acquisitions, and customer financing, will come in at about €3.5bn.
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