European aircraft manufacturer Airbus is targeting around 820 commercial aircraft deliveries in 2025, up from its revised target of around 770 aircraft in 2024, but CFM engine deliveries and the integration of aerostructure maker Spirit AeroSystems pose potential difficulties for its ramp-up.
Supply of LEAP engines from CFM International — a French-US joint venture between Safran Aircraft engines and GE Aerospace — remains a persistent bottleneck for Airbus' narrowbody A320 operations. Airbus anticipates that A320neo deliveries will continue to be impacted in the first half of this year, chief executive Guillaume Faury said at the company's annual press conference today. The company will therefore have to accelerate second-half deliveries to compensate following a normalisation through the first half.
Airbus' acquisition of certain Spirit AeroSystems sites and work packages is expected to close in the first half of this year following a signing of the transaction in the coming weeks, Airbus chief financial officer Thomas Toepfer said today. But prior to closure of the deal, restricted supply of parts from Spirit owing to the company's ongoing operational issues will pressure the ramp-up for the A350 and A220 aircraft. Integrating the Spirit assets once the deal goes through will also take time. Consequently, Airbus is pushing back the entry into service of the A350 freighter variant to the second half of 2027 from its previous target of 2026.
Supply chain difficulties were already apparent in January deliveries, when Airbus delivered just 23 single-aisle aircraft — including 3 A220s, 2 A319neo, 7 A320neo, and 11 A321neo — and two widebody A350s. This is compared with 28 single aisles a year earlier, and 102 in December (including 10 A220s) as it vied to hit full-year guidance.
Despite a challenging near-term outlook, Airbus affirmed its ramp-up targets for the A220 at rate 14 in 2026, the A320 at rate 75 in 2027 and the A350 at rate 12 in 2028 and is now stabilising production on the A330 at rate four with no upward trajectory currently mapped out.
Airbus is reviewing its potential exposure to tariffs from the US and how it could adapt, but Faury said that they should not be directly impacted because of the extent of Airbus' interplay between its US and non-US operations. "We are the first export customer of the US aerospace industry, so it's really an integrated ecosystem across the north Atlantic and we believe tariffs in this industry would be lose lose," Faury said.
