Airbus achieves record aircraft deliveries in 2009
Airbus Industrie set a new aircraft delivery record in 2009, handing over a total of 498 aircraft to customers in a single year. The figure is a new company delivery record for and is 15 more aircraft than in 2008. The count includes 402 A320 family aircraft, 86 A330/A340s which are both records for a single year, and 10 A380s. Airbus’ Military Division delivered 16 light and medium transport aircraft.
Despite challenging market conditions, Airbus also reached its order intake target, winning a total of 310 orders gross (271 net) valued US$34.9 billion gross (US$30.3 billion net) at list prices, or 54 per cent of the worldwide market share of aircraft beyond 100 seats.
Tom Enders, Airbus President and CEO, was up-beat at an international media conference in Seville on Tuesday: ‘As expected, 2009 has been a very difficult year for the aviation and airline industry. However, all the doomsday-prophets and “experts” who told us a year ago that we had to brace for at least a 20-30% production cut during 2009 have been proven completely wrong. In fact, we managed to produce and deliver almost five hundred commercial aircraft (498), a new Airbus record; plus 16 in our military division.’
Enders attributed the result to teamwork and flexibility at Airbus and a close cooperation with customers, suppliers and finance institutions, and sharply reminded governments that a key program, the A400M military transporter, needed the finality of orders: ‘We plan to keep production at 2008/2009 levels, but we need to remain prudent and flexible. We are not out of the woods yet,’ h said. ‘Our prime mission in the coming weeks is to secure a solid financial footing for the A400M. After nine months of intense deliberations with our government customers, it’s time for decisions.’
In December alone Airbus delivered 61 commercial aircraft to customers, another record which Enders described as “a tremendous achievement, clearly beyond our hopes twelve months ago.”
New orders during 2009 include:
- 228 A320 family aircraft;
- 78 A330/A340/A350 XWB family aircraft; and
- four new orders for the A380:
‘Just three years after launch Airbus also surpassed the 500th order milestone for the next generation A350 XWB. At 2009 year end, Airbus had a total order backlog of 3,488 aircraft, valued at US$437.1 billion, or equalling six years of full production.
‘Further company streamlining saw the formation of Airbus Military, signalling the full integration of military aircraft programmes within Airbus. The maiden flight of the A400M (MSN 1) in December was a proof-point of the successful re-organisation and new programme set-up.’
Conversion work for the first A330-based Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) was completed, and is on track for delivery in mid 2010. The MRTT received a further incremental order for three aircraft, raising the total to 28. On the smaller transport aircraft front, the year was successful, with 19 orders from seven customers. These include one order for the C-212, two for the CN-235 and 16 for the C-295.
Enders however acknowledged ongoing setbacks with A380 production and in-service reliability:
‘I will not hide, however, that we had also one notable disappointment last year: the A380, as we did not achieve the 2009 delivery target. Additionally, the operational reliability level for the in-service aircraft is not yet where our customers expect it to be two years after EIS.
‘True, part of the problem did stem from the customers’ requests for a rescheduling of deliveries. But, more importantly, we still haven’t come to grips with the complexity of the aircraft and the over-complexity of our engineering and production processes, which result in significant additional cost and delays.
‘After a thorough internal bottom-up review we have decided in December on various, pragmatic improvement measures that now need to be implemented swiftly and vigorously. We will talk more about this in our upcoming “roadshows”. For 2010 we not only plan to deliver, we HAVE to deliver at least 20 aircraft.
‘On the positive side we are happy to hear from our customers that they – and their passengers – love the A380. And even though the A380 will remain a financial liability for Airbus for still some years to come, for airlines it is a great revenue and profit generator. That is definitely good news and should be encouraging to all of us, particularly for those of you working hard and not without frustrations on the programme. It does suggest that all the efforts and resources we’re pouring into the A380 today will yield good returns in some years from now. This is not an aircraft for a couple of years, it is an aircraft for decades to come.’
