Airbus will need to hand over close to 100 aircraft each month to customers in the remainder of 2025 — considerably more than at any point so far this year — if the European plane-maker wants to achieve its ambitious delivery target.
The company delivered 61 aircraft in August, Airbus said on Friday, bringing the number to date to 434 units. That’s less than the 67 achieved in July, and below a peak of 71 in March.
Airbus has maintained its target of about about 820 planes in 2025, though CEO Guillaume Faury acknowledged in June that global volatility and constraints on getting parts have made the goal “a little bit more difficult”.
While handovers tend to accelerate in the final months of the year, the balance so far sets up a furious race to finish line if Airbus wants to avoid missing or revising a target closely watched by investors.
One major impediment has been the slow intake of engines, forcing Airbus to store ready-built aircraft without their power source under the wings — referred to as gliders in industry parlance. The company had 60 gliders at its facilities at the end of June, a number it aims to eradicate by the end of the year. Other bottlenecks include toilets for larger aircraft and other components that are slowing down output.
Aircraft deliveries are a closely watched metric because manufacturers receive final payments for their jets upon handover, supporting cash flow. Boeing delivered 48 aircraft in July, including 37 of its crucial 737 Max plane that competes with Airbus’s A320 model.
See also: Rheinmetall CEO backs profit goals with no end of war in sight
In 2024, Airbus delivered 766 aircraft, narrowly achieving a target that it was forced to pare back halfway through the year. The record for Airbus stood at 863 units in 2019, before the pandemic decimated the aviation industry.
