Airbus 2024 delivery goal becomes a stretch as supply woes bite
Company probably managed to get 50 jetliners to customers last month
Airbus SE's already-reduced annual delivery goal has increasingly become a long shot, as handovers in September have left the European company with gap for the final three months that will be a stretch to fill even at a higher rate.
The company probably managed to get 50 jetliners to customers last month, according to people familiar with the figures. Such a number would bring deliveries after three months to about 500, leaving Airbus with a gap of 270 toward its annual goal of 770 deliveries.
While the pace tends to pick up toward the end of the year, Airbus would have to consistently hand over more planes in each of the last three months than it has managed at any point so far in 2024. The highest that Airbus managed in 2023 was 112 deliveries in December.
Airbus's delivery target is a closely watched metric in the aviation industry. In June, the world's largest planemaker was forced to cut the goal to 770 from 800 previously, citing persistent supply-chain shortages on parts including interiors and engines.
Airbus declined to comment on September deliveries ahead of their scheduled monthly release on Wednesday.
The manufacturer could be forced to downgrade its full-year guidance when it reports third-quarter earnings at the end of October, Ian Douglas-Pennant, an analyst at UBS, wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday. UBS is now modeling for 750 deliveries in 2024, according to the note.
The European planemaker has long complained that the supply chain has struggled to ramp back up after the pandemic upended the industry and forced parts makers to slash jobs and cut spending to preserve cash. The shortage of deliveries has weighed on airlines, who are not receiving their ordered planes at the desired speed, forcing them to fly older models for longer or pare back some routes.
On Tuesday, aerospace parts maker Senior Plc said it would cut jobs and spending due to lower near-term handovers to Airbus and its US rival Boeing Co. The US planemaker has been additionally affected by a crippling strike that's shuttered output of its cash-cow 737 Max jetliner.