Airbus delivered 766 commercial aircraft in 2024, indicating a successful year despite falling short of the initial delivery goal due to supply chain constraints.
A excellent year for Airbus.
Despite the OEM missing its initial 800 and later amended 770 aircraft delivery target, Airbus CEO Christian Scherer stated that the year indicated a strong demand for new aircraft.
In 2024, Airbus delivered 766 A220, 602 A320, 32 A330, and 57 A350 family aircraft, a 31 increase from 2023. In 2019, the European plane maker’s clients welcomed 863 aircraft into their fleets, a milestone that the OEM has yet to duplicate.
Scherer said that Airbus was able to win over significant clients this year, resulting in tremendous momentum for its widebody orderbook, which only strengthened its advantage in the single-aisle market.
The executive highlighted that the year included numerous firsts for its clients, including the first-ever A321XLR welcomed by Iberia in October 2024, and other airlines adding their first A330neo and A350 aircraft.
Malaysia Airlines and Kuwait Airways received their first A330-900s (the latter having four A330-800s), while Emirates and Ethiopian Airlines received their first A350-900 and A350-1000 aircraft, respectively.
“Given the complicated and rapidly changing environment in which we continue to operate, we believe 2024 a good year. It has taken a great team effort to achieve this 2024 result.”
Airbus announced that its full-year results would be released on February 20.Its most recent projection, released alongside its nine-month results in October 2024, said that the OEM projected to reach adjusted profits before interest and taxes (EBIT) of roughly €5.5 billion ($5.6 billion) and free cash flow (FCF, before customer financing) of around €3.5 billion ($3.6 billion).
Slow widebody delivery.
Interestingly, the only aircraft family that had lower deliveries in 2023 than in 2024 was the A350, with Airbus delivering seven fewer A350s in the latter year. A330 deliveries remained flat, with Airbus delivering 32 A330 aircraft, including the A330 MRTT (two in 2024).
The A330neo and A350 aircraft families are powered by Rolls-Royce engines. The British OEM only provides the Trent 7000 to A330neo clients, and the Trent XWB-84 and XWB-97 to A350-900 and A350-1000 customers, respectively.
While Rolls-Royce has yet to reveal its 2024 results, the British OEM delivered 120 big engines in the first half of 2024, including 37 Trent 7000, 44 XWB-84, and 15 XWB-97s.
In H1 2023, large engine deliveries were 115, with the British engine manufacturer concluding the year with 262 total deliveries of engines designed to be placed on widebody aircraft wings.
British Airways has cut routes owing to engine troubles with the Trent 1000, which powers their Boeing 787s.
In a November 2024 investor update, Rolls-Royce acknowledged that the supply chain situation remained complex, but said that it has continued to collaborate with its supply chain partners to accommodate increased delivery and aftermarket volumes.
December’s orders and deliveries.
In December, Airbus clients added 123 new aircraft to their fleets: two A220-100, eight A220-300, three A319neo, 34 A320neo, 55 A321neo, one A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), six A330-900, ten A350-900, and four A350-1000s.
Meanwhile, the manufacturer’s orderbook revealed that in December 2024, the OEM added 99 aircraft to its backlog. The figures were substantially supported by a December 27 order from an unidentified customer for 49 A320neo and 26 A321neo, respectively.
Individual purchases for ten A320neo (six) and A321neo (four), one A350-900, and two A220-100 aircraft were also made by buyers who want to remain anonymous.
Other orders included Air Canada confirming an order for five A220-300s, Air Algerie purchasing three A330-900s, and Royal Jet, an Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based charter airline, adding three A320neo – probably Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ) ACJ320neo – to its fleet.