Paris (AFP)

Airbus has revised down forecasts of aircraft deliveries for 2019, due to difficulties in rising, announced Wednesday the European aircraft manufacturer, which recorded a net profit up 3% in the third quarter, 989 millions of euros.

The automaker plans to deliver "around 860 commercial aircraft" in 2019, while it predicted "880 to 890" deliveries this year, the group said in a statement.

In the first nine months of the year, Airbus delivered 571 aircraft, compared with 503 over the same period last year. But he faces difficulties especially in the ramping up of production of the A321 ACF which "remains ambitious", he says.

"We are focusing our efforts on ramping up the A320neo and improving the industrial flow, while managing in particular the complexity of the A321 ACF," Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury said in a statement. communicated.

"The volume of deliveries at nine months and the new delivery forecasts for the full year reflect the bottom-up actions undertaken to secure a more efficient flow of deliveries over the coming years, as we aim for a monthly rate of 63 copies of the A320 family in 2021, "he added.

Following the signing of a record 300 A320 family aircraft for Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo, the aircraft manufacturer reports 127 net orders in the first nine months of the year, compared to 256 past.

The order book reached 7,133 aircraft as of September 30th.

This downward revision in planned deliveries led Airbus to downgrade its free cash flow before mergers and acquisitions and customer financing to "approximately € 3 billion", a quarter less than before.

The adjusted operating profit (EBIT) forecast remains unchanged, however, with an expected increase of 15% for 2019.

In the third quarter, operating profit (EBIT) declined by 14% (+ 2% adjusted), suffering in particular from "adjustments" of € 266 million.

These adjustments are driven by the consequences of the freeze on arms sales by Germany to Saudi Arabia, the cost of the A380 program, which Airbus announced in February the end of production, and by payment discrepancies. before delivery in dollars.

In the first nine months of the year, the aircraft manufacturer reports a net profit up 50% to 2.186 billion euros.

© 2019 AFP