Airbus faces supply chain struggles, revises delivery forecasts

Airbus is the largest aircraft manufacturer in Europe.

"Persistent specific supply chain issues" are the main problem facing Airbus today. The European giant has announced that it is revising its forecasts. This year, the company will not deliver the planned 800 aircraft.

Airbus had announced the delivery of 800 passenger planes this year. The company will not meet this target. It announced this last week after a "comprehensive review".

"In commercial aircraft, Airbus is facing persistent specific supply chain issues mainly in engines, aerostructures and cabin equipment" the European giant said in a statement.

It added that "the Company now intends to deliver around 770 commercial aircraft in 2024." It also aims to increase the production rate of A320 family aircraft to 75 per month but should achieve this "in 2027." Therefore, the company has updated its forecasts for this year.

About Airbus's plans for this year and the issue with part deliveries, Johan Pelissier, the new group chairman in Europe, spoke in an interview with money.pl. "We are looking at what is happening with each of our contractors. We have an 'observatory' on-site to make decisions more quickly on mitigating risks that may arise along the way. We are in a post-pandemic growth phase; this curve is quite steep, so monitoring is very important," he said.

He added that for individual aircraft from the A320/A321 family, the order list is filled to the end of this decade. "Demand is very high. Meanwhile, when it comes to aircraft like the A350, the reservation list is almost full until the end of the decade," Pelissier added.

Airbus updates forecasts for this year

Airbus's planned adjusted profit for this year is £4.7 billion. Airbus expects that free cash flow before customer financing will be £3.0 billion.

"As the basis for its updated 2024 guidance, the Company assumes no additional disruptions to the world economy, air traffic, the supply chain, the Company’s internal operations, and its ability to deliver products and services," the statement read.

Furthermore, Airbus had to record approximately £756 million in its financial statement for the year's first half. "These are mainly related to updated assumptions on schedules, workload, sourcing, risks and costs over the lifetime of certain telecommunications, navigation and observation programs," the statement read.

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