(Updated comments from CEO and CCO at press conference) by Joanna Plucinska, Dagmarah Mackos and Tim Hepher
Airbus AIR.PA reported a record number of annual jet orders and confirmed an 11% rise in deliveries in 2023 on Thursday, retaining the top manufacturing spot over rival Boeing BA.N for the fifth consecutive year.
As airlines raced to renew their fleets last year, Airbus said it won 2,319 gross orders and 2,094 net orders after cancellations. Confirming information from Reuters, Airbus said it had delivered 735 planes, bringing its order book to 8,598.
Guillaume Faury, Airbus’ chief executive, said the plane maker, which analysts say had a slow start to the year due to tight supply chains, saw “its flexibility and capacity increase ” in its industrial system.
He added that he was confident that Airbus would achieve a delivery target of 75 A320 jets per month in 2026, with ten active assembly lines for the A320 family.
“The supply chain situation remains tense. It’s improving, it’s improving, but we’re also flying higher as we continue to ramp up into 2024,” Faury told a conference Press.
Boeing, which has yet to recover from the grounding of its 737 MAX over safety concerns followed by a series of production problems, said this week that it had delivered 528 planes in 2023 and recorded 1,314 net new orders after accounting for cancellations.
Christian Scherer, who in January left his post as head of sales to become general manager of commercial aircraft, Airbus’ core business, said aviation had recovered more quickly than expected from the influenza A pandemic. (COVID-19).
Demand for wide-body aircraft is rebounding particularly quickly, he said, adding in a statement: “Travel is back and the situation is serious: “Travel is back and the momentum is strong.”
He added that it was a priority for the European manufacturer to quickly catch up with the accumulated delay.
“The responsibility is to meet the commitment to deliver an order book of 8,600 aircraft on time and with the required quality,” he told a news conference.
Boeing is facing a new review of its production following a cabin explosion that led to the partial grounding of a 737 MAX type. Analysts say this also comes against a backdrop of ongoing supply tensions across the industry.