Airbus edges towards 2023 delivery goal after 18% increase in October

Airbus needs to deliver 161 planes in the final two months of the year to meet its full-year delivery target, down slightly from last year’s closing performance, company data showed on Tuesday.

In a monthly bulletin, the aircraft maker confirmed it had delivered 71 aircraft in October, an increase of 18% from the same month last year, bringing the total for the first ten months to 559 aircraft, as previously reported by Reuters.

In the last two months of 2022, Airbus delivered 166 aircraft.

Orders so far this year have reached 1,399 aircraft, or a net total of 1,334 units after cancellations, Airbus said.

Airbus will announce nine-month results on Wednesday.

Agency Partners analyst Sash Tusa wrote in a note that the company was not expected to change its full-year delivery target of 720 aircraft, despite the pressure on deliveries of Pratt & Whitney engines.

Airbus cut and ultimately abandoned its delivery target last year due to supply constraints and started 2023 weakly before deliveries accelerated over the summer.

Leasing company Air Lease questioned Monday whether Airbus or Boeing would meet their delivery targets — in Airbus’ case, over concerns that scarce engines would be diverted to help airlines keep existing planes flying.

Airbus has said its priority is to support production.