Paris (awp / afp) – Airbus saw its profit more than triple over one year in the first quarter, to 1.22 billion euros, despite the effect of sanctions against Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, a announced Wednesday the European aircraft manufacturer.
The industrial giant, which, like the entire aeronautics sector, has suffered severely from the Covid-19 crisis, has also confirmed its long-term optimism by officially targeting monthly production of 75 A320 family aircraft by 2025, its star single-aisle, whose rate of exit from the factories was still only 45 units per month at the end of 2021.
The profit for the first quarter, compared to 362 million euros for the same period of 2021, was obtained on a turnover of 12 billion euros, up 15% year-on-year, “mainly reflecting the increase in commercial aircraft deliveries,” the group said in a statement.
Airbus delivered 142 commercial jets between early January and late March, compared to 125 in the same period last year. This branch saw its sales increase by 17% in value.
The helicopter branch, for its part, delivered as many helicopters as a year earlier, i.e. 39 units, but turnover increased by 7% “reflecting the growth of service activities” and higher products. of range.
Finally, sales in the military and space branch increased by 16%, in particular thanks to the signing of the Eurodrone contract.
These results, while the sanctions against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine have particularly affected the aeronautics and space sector, “reflect the solid performance of our commercial aircraft, helicopters and defense activities”, welcomed the executive chairman of Airbus. , Guillaume Faury, quoted in the press release.
“Our guidance for 2022 remains unchanged, although the risk profile for the rest of the year proves more challenging due to the complex geopolitical and economic backdrop,” he added.
Airbus is therefore still targeting the delivery of 720 commercial aircraft this year.
Beyond the current financial year, “we anticipate sustained growth in demand for commercial aircraft driven by the A320 family”, the successful aircraft in the aircraft manufacturer’s range, said the manager.
“Therefore, we are working closely with our industrial partners to increase the production rate of the A320 Family to reach 75 aircraft per month in 2025,” he revealed.
This now official objective had already been implicitly mentioned by Airbus, which until then had aimed to ramp up its production to 65 monthly copies in the summer of 2023, already a number never before achieved.
Shadow to this picture, however, Airbus announced on Wednesday a delay in the program of the jewel of the A320 range, the A321XLR, version with very long range.
If Airbus “continues to expect a first flight by the end of the second quarter of 2022”, “its operational entry should take place in early 2024 in order to meet certification requirements”, instead of the end of 2023.
afp/rp