Airbus has just released its latest figures for orders and deliveries. The data, relating to September 2024, is said to reflect the challenging environment in which the European planemaker continues to struggle as it tries to keep up with soaring demand for its products.
The company announced orders for 235 new aircraft during the month. This total includes 35 A320neo family aircraft, five A350-900s, and five A350-1000s. The order book added 15 A320neos for CDB Leasing, plus 190 A321neos which are allocated to Cebu Pacific (70), 65 to CDB Leasing, and 55 to undisclosed customers. The identities of the customers of the widebody orders are also yet to be announced, although according to Bloomberg, Air India is suspected as the leading contender for the A350s along with at least some of the A320neos.
In terms of new aircraft deliveries, the company delivered 50 planes during the period. This figure represents a drop of 9% over the same month in 2023. However, on the positive side, the quantity of new planes delivered brings the total so far in 2024 to 497 aircraft, up 2% from 488 at the same stage in 2023.
In September 2024, the company delivered 50 new planes to 29 customers. The breakdown comprises of a single A220-100, four A220-300s, one A319neo, 12 A320neos, 28 A321neos, one A330-900, two A350-900s, and a single A350-1000.
Airbus is continuing to target 770 new aircraft deliveries for the full year of 2024 despite its ongoing supply chain challenges. This target was reduced downwards from the original figure of 800 in July 2024, with the organization citing shortages of engines and other key components as third-party suppliers continue to face staffing shortages resulting from the pandemic and their own supply chain issues further up the line.
Given that the company is sitting at 497 aircraft in the year to date, there is still a shortfall of 273 aircraft that must be delivered to meet the 2024 target figure of 770. Even this remaining number, if achieved, would represent an 11% increase over the last quarter of 2023 – an increase that some analysts believe will be hard to achieve.
Airbus had been hoping to ramp up production of its A320neo family of narrowbody planes to 75 per month by 2026, however, this figure has now been delayed to 2027. The company is currently only managing around 50 single-aisle airframes each month, with the production of the A220 family of planes at Mirabel in Canada said to be facing particularly challenging production issues and delays.
So far in 2024, Airbus has won orders for a total of 667 aircraft, or a net total of 648 after cancellations. While the company does not publish or publicize its annual order target levels, it is widely assumed that given its forecast production capability, the planemaker aims to achieve around 1,100 net new orders per year.