Airbus has released their 2019 Order and Delivery results, which reflect strong performance throughout the year, including a record amount of deliveries for the company, despite a cut to their original goal.
The company disclosed gross orders for 1,131 new aircraft, with a net order figure of 768 aircraft, which is 21 more than 2018. Delivering 863 aircraft, which is an eight percent increase compared to 2018, Airbus now has a backlog of 7,482 commercial aircraft.
In terms of narrowbody performance, Airbus stood strong in the lead; delivering 48 A220s compared to 20 in 2018, when the aircraft became part of the Airbus Family on the 1st of July 2018. This confirmed the aircraft as the market leader for its category.
642 A320 Family aircraft were delivered in 2019, compared to 626 in 2018, and 551 were of the A320neo variants, in contrast to the 386 delivered in 2018.
An outstanding order response was recorded following the launch of the A321XLR at the 2019 Paris Airshow, with 450 orders and commitments from 22 operators and two lessors around the world
“The A321XLR is a classic case of applying incremental innovation to further enhance the Airbus commercial aircraft product line.”
Gary O’Donnell, Head of Airbus A321XLR programme
In total, Airbus secured 796 A320 Family and 118 A220 Family gross orders in 2019.
Widebody performance remained rather stagnant as a result of lowered demand, increased narrowbody capability and global economic slow down. Airbus recorded sales and repeat orders for 32 A350s and 89 A330s; however they saw the loss of 263 aircraft, after airlines made operational adjustments and the announcement that A380 production would end was made.
In total, Airbus recorded gross sales of 104 A330neos and 113 A350s during 2019.
A last minute win was recorded though, with an undisclosed customer placing an order for 41 A330-900neo aircraft. More details about this order will become available at a later date.
“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.”
Guillaume Faury, Airbus Chief Executive Officer
Despite these positive numbers recorded by Airbus, the company still dealt with various production issues throughout the year; including snags with the various A321neo Family cabin layouts and variants manufactured in Hamburg, also delayed engine deliveries from Pratt and Whitney and CFM International.
The arrival of additional labour, and last-minute holiday cancellations, allowed the manufacturer to boost production and deliveries towards the end of the year, which allowed for the record figures.
The extra work and unplanned adjustments to the production system could have a moderate impact on Airbus’ profit margins, however the large volume of aircraft, and great profitability for narrowbody aircraft, could soften the impact. Airbus will report Full Year 2019 financial results on 13th February 2020.
Looking at the other side of the duopoly, Boeing spent 2019 with minimal 737 MAX deliveries, due to the global grounding that begun in 2019, meaning delivery performance is limited to widebody commercial aircraft and older generation 737NGs. More details will be disclosed once Boeing announces their results for 2019, which is expected to be on the 14th of January.