Airbus retains position as world’s leading aircraft manufacturer

Manufacturer Airbus has confirmed it has retained its position as the leading aircraft manufacturer in the world.

The company has a major base in Filton where it carries out testing and design work. Around 3,000 staff are employed at its Bristol centre.

Airbus said it delivered 661 commercial aircraft to 84 customers in 2022 and registered 1,078  new orders.

At the end of December Airbus order backlog stood at 7,239 aircraft.

Guillaume Faury, Airbus chief executive, said: “In 2022 we served 84 customers with 661 deliveries, an increase of eight per cent compared to 2021. That’s obviously less than we were targeting but given the complexity of the operating environment I want to thank the teams and our partners for the hard work and the ultimate result.

“The significant order intake covering all our aircraft families including freighters, reflects the strength and competitiveness of our product line. We continue our ramp-up trajectory to deliver on our backlog.”

Airbus equally won 1,078 new orders  across all programmes and market segments, including several high profile commitments from some of the world’s leading carriers. In aircraft units, Airbus recorded a net book to bill ratio significantly above one.

The A220 won 127 firm gross new orders. The A320neo Family won 888 gross new orders. In the widebody segment, Airbus won 63 gross new orders including 19 A330s and 44 A350s of which 24 were for the newly launched A350F.

Airbus’s full year financial results will be published on February 16th.