Airbus can benefit from the strong dollar in 2022 and increase its sales. The Corona crisis is still causing problems for the aircraft manufacturer, and production is growing more slowly than planned. 720 machines are to be delivered in 2023 - as many as actually planned for the past year.
The aircraft manufacturer Airbus bows to the ongoing shortage of parts. The Boeing rival has set a target of 720 delivered aircraft for the current year - as many as should have been handed over to customers in 2022. Production is also not to be expanded as much as recently promised. "We are adjusting our production so that it is in line with supply," said Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury. A monthly production rate of 65 A320neo machines is now only being aimed for at the end of 2024, and by 2026 it should be 75 - so far there has been talk of "the middle of the decade".
The consequences of the corona pandemic are causing problems for the industry: During the first lockdowns, US suppliers in particular laid off staff who are now sorely lacking. Faury spoke of an "adverse business environment that is preventing the supply chain from recovering as quickly as we expected". In 2022, Airbus delivered 661 aircraft, significantly fewer than the originally planned 720 aircraft. Airbus has scaled back its delivery target several times over the past year.
In terms of sales, the world's largest aircraft manufacturer benefited from the strong dollar: In 2022, sales increased by 13 percent to 58.8 billion euros, slightly more than expected. Adjusted operating profit improved by 16 percent to 5.6 billion euros, also thanks to positive effects from pension payments. For 2023, Airbus predicted a further increase in operating profit to six billion euros.
The search for a chief financial officer is now over: Airbus has struck gold with the plastics group Covestro. Thomas Toepfer, CFO at Covestro since 2018, is moving to the aircraft manufacturer on September 1. He succeeds Dominik Asam, who is leaving Airbus on March 3 after almost four years for the software group SAP. In the meantime, Xavier Tardy, the chief financial officer of the armaments and space subsidiary Airbus Defence, steps in
