Airbus manufacture outpaces previous year with 863 aircraft delivered

An Airbus A380

Aircraft manufacturer Airbus delivered 863 commercial aircraft to 99 customers in 2019, outpacing its previous output record set in 2018 by eight percent.

In the 17th yearly production increase in a row, Airbus, which employs more than 6,000 staff at its wing making plant in Broughton, near Chester, progressed on the transition to all NEO (new engine option) variants and by year end Airbus had delivered 173 wide-body aircraft, its highest number in a single year.

In 2019, deliveries comprised:

  • A220 Family: 48 versus 20 in 2018 (since the A220 became part of the Airbus Family: 1 July 2018)
  • A320 Family: 642 v 626 in 2018. Of these, 551 were NEO Family v 386 in 2018
  • A330 Family: 53 v 49 in 2018. Of these, 41 were NEO Family v three in 2018
  • A350 Family: 112 v 93 in 2018. Of these, 25 were A350-1000 v 14 in 2018
  • A380: eight v 12 in 2018

Airbus had a strong year of sales with a total of 1,131 new orders.

Net orders reached 768, compared with 747 in 2018, underlining customer endorsements in all market segments and taking Airbus’s overall historical cumulative net orders over the 20,000 mark.

The A220 achieved 63 net orders, confirming it as the leading aircraft in its category. The A320 Family continued its success with 654 net orders, including an outstanding market response for the new A321XLR.

At year end, the current Airbus wide-body offering comprised sales and repeat orders of 32 A350 Family and 89 A330 Family aircraft.

Cancellations of 363 reflect specific airline situations in 2019 as well as the decision to end A380 production.

At the turn of the year, Airbus’s backlog stood at 7,482 aircraft.

Chief executive Guillaume Faury said: “I am happy to see our commercial aircraft order and delivery numbers reflecting the continuous efforts to better serve our customers and bring our competitive products and services to the market.

“I sincerely thank our customers for their loyalty and the Airbus teams and our industry partners who made it possible.”

Last week Airbus announced that it had secured an £8bn deal to sell 100 aircraft to US-based Spirit Airlines.

Spirit is based in South Florida and is the fastest-growing airline in the US.

Airbus will report full year 2019 financial results on February 13.

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close