Airbus only has problems of being rich. In 2022, the European aircraft manufacturer recorded the largest profit in its history. Thus, the group chaired by Guillaume Faury posted a net result of 4.2 billion euros, up 1% compared to 2021, which was its previous record. Turnover peaked at 58.9 billion euros.
These results were achieved while, at the same time, aircraft deliveries fell short of expectations. However, they represent a crucial moment in the activity of an aeronautical manufacturer. Indeed, it is only at this stage of the contract that he is paid by his clients. In 2021, Airbus delivered only 661 aircraft, when its forecast was 720. In 2023, it expects to deliver this number of aircraft again.
This good performance confirms the strategy implemented even before the end of the Covid-19 pandemic by Airbus, which had bet very early on on a resumption of activity and air traffic. “Anticipation was the key word”, said Mr. Faury. Nevertheless, the health crisis weighed on the activity of the aircraft manufacturer, which suffered in particular from supply difficulties. It was mainly slowed down by the difficulties of the supply chainits chain of subcontractors.
The latter, who received less help from the state or later, often cut back on their workforce to get through this difficult period and found it difficult to recruit when activity showed signs of recovery. Finally, Airbus had to deal with the exacerbated wait-and-see attitude shown by the engine manufacturer Safran, its first-tier supplier. “Engines are the most important and complex part of the supply chain”confided Guillaume Faury.
Full order books
According to him, “Safran was very careful about the speed of the restart”. “They are certainly the ones who gave us the most problems”, he estimated. However, the differences on the tempo of the ramp-up between Airbus and its supplier have now been ironed out. “Today, Airbus and Safran are perfectly aligned on the objectives”added the boss of the aircraft manufacturer.
The aircraft manufacturer now intends to leave its assembly lines sixty-five copies per month of the A320, its blockbuster, in 2024
If relations have returned to good shape with Safran, Airbus has not yet finished settling this recent past. Mr. Faury judged that the environment more complicated than expected ” [avait] prevented the supply chain from recovering at the expected rate”. “It will take us two years to accomplish what we had planned to accomplish in one year. » A slight setback for the aircraft manufacturer, according to which “the priority is to ramp up”.
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