Airbus reveals record jet orders and deliveries in 2013

The jet maker Airbus Group NV announced that it does not have any intentions in increasing the efforts invested in the production of its best-selling, narrow-bodied A320 line in short term. The A320 family helped the company to post record jet orders and deliveries last year.

The Airbus unit announced that a company record was reached in 2013, thanks to the 626 commercial jets delivered. The company also shared that a similar number of jets is expected to be delivered by the end of 2014. Airbus Group NV calculated that 493 A320s, 180 A33 intermediate models and 25 A380s are included in the last years tally. The company also announced that it ended the previous year with an unfilled reserve of 5,559 aircraft, which is a real industry record. Another industry-wide record was said by the company to be set taking into account the backlog of 1,619 gross orders for 2013.

A monthly production rate of 42 for the A320 line was confirmed by the company. Aircus also announced that the production of the latest model from the line – the A302neo is planned to start from the fourth quarter of this year. The first wide-body jet of the company – A350 XWB is expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2014. The A350 XWB model is considered to be a worthy rival of Boeings 787 Dreamliner. The Chief Executive Officer of the company – Mr. Bregier said: “We have now secured transition [from the A320 neo] at a rate of 42 neos a month and if the market remains steady there is an opportunity to ho higher before 2018 but thats an “if” and no decision has been made.”

At the annual press conference of the jet-maker in Toulouse, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Airbus Group NV – Fabrice Bregier said: “We expect to produce around 10 a month by the end of 2018 and break-even on the program by the end of the decade.”

Airbus was also suggested to replace the A350-800 by replacing the engine of its intermediate A330 model with a more powerful one. The executives of the company explained that all possible options were taken into account. They also shared that most customers proved to be willing to wait until production of the A350-800 became less constrained. Mr. Bregier said: “This is not a priority – we are considering all ideas including whether there will be an A350-900 reduced in size. The A350-800 with improvements will remain very competitive.”

According to Bloomberg, the current share price of Airbus Group NV is 0.32% down, and its one-year return rate is 77.72% up.