PARIS (Reuters) – Airbus missed its headline delivery target by a whisker in 2024, provisionally releasing more than 765 jets to airlines and lessors, industry sources said, citing preliminary data.
Airbus notionally delivered more than 122 planes in December, bringing the total for the year to just over 765, they said. Airbus declined comment ahead of an announcement on Jan 9.
The European planemaker had forecast “around 770” deliveries after lowering its target in July due to supply problems, and averted a potential second profit warning after striking a deal over extra engine supplies in November.
But supplies of interiors remain a persistent problem and some deliveries had to be shelved amid complex negotiations between airline, planemaker and seat supplier, leaving the 770 target narrowly out of reach, the sources said.
The data is subject to a routine audit and can change at the last minute, with some discretion allowed in whether deliveries can be booked before the change of ownership is complete, though one source said such “paper” deliveries had fallen in 2024.
Airbus had already prepared the ground for a slight miss in the delivery target by telling analysts that a shortfall of anything less than 20 jets would not be considered material, and therefore not serious enough to warrant a new profit warning.
Airbus generates the bulk of its operating profits and most of its cashflow from commercial jet deliveries.
Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that Airbus had delivered around 760 planes in 2024.
Airbus will give forecasts for 2025 with full results on Feb. 20.
(This story has been corrected to fix the date of results to Feb. 20, not Jan. 20, in paragraph 9)
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle, William Maclean)
