Paris (AFP)
The aviation sector is experiencing the most serious crisis in its history but Airbus is getting ready for the recovery: the European aircraft manufacturer announced on Thursday that it will produce more single-aisle aircraft in 2023 than before the Covid-19 pandemic .
The aircraft manufacturer is resolutely confident, having adopted a prudent policy since the start of the health crisis, marked by the collapse of world air traffic and the inability of financially drained companies to take delivery of their aircraft.
"The aviation sector is starting to recover from the Covid-19 crisis," said Airbus executive chairman Guillaume Faury, quoted in a press release.
Airbus "continues to expect a return to pre-crisis levels between 2023 and 2025 for the commercial aircraft market driven by the single-aisle segment."
It therefore "informs its suppliers about its production planning, thus giving visibility in order to plan the necessary investments and to secure" their production capacities ".
It therefore asks its suppliers to "prepare for the future by securing a firm rate of 64" A320 family aircraft (A319, A320 and A321) per month "by the second quarter of 2023".
# photo1
This announcement made the share price jump by more than 6% when the stock market opened.
Airbus currently produces 40 A320s per month.
At the start of the pandemic, while it was producing 60 monthly and was preparing to drop in 2020 to 63 devices per month, it immediately announced a drop in its rates of 40%.
To adapt its industrial tool and save money, it had also announced the elimination of 15,000 jobs out of the 135,000 employees that the group then had, while avoiding layoffs in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain, its main country of establishment.
- Wide-body slump -
From the foundry of certain engine parts to the final assembly of the aircraft, aeronautical production is a long cycle involving a myriad of players, from the prime contractor to the subcontractor to subcontractor.
Giving visibility is therefore crucial.
Airbus therefore also asks "its suppliers to allow a rate scenario of 70 (monthly aircraft) by Q1 (first quarter, editor's note) 2024. In the longer term, Airbus is studying opportunities for rates of up to 75 aircraft. per month by 2025 ", he explains.
# photo2
The A320 family aircraft are produced on eight assembly lines: two in Toulouse, four in Hamburg (Germany), one in Mobile (United States) and one in Tianjin (China).
For the aircraft manufacturer, this ramp-up must in particular be made possible by the modernization and digitization by the end of 2022 of one of its assembly lines in Toulouse, in order to enable it to assemble both A320s and A321s. .
The project announced in January 2020 had been put on hold due to the pandemic.
It was relaunched in early May.
The A321, with 2,963 aircraft on order at the end of April, now represents almost half of the order book for the aircraft manufacturer's single-aisle aircraft.
The A321 XLR version, supposed to ensure from 2023 with a single aisle connections that until now could only be done by large long-haul carriers, has met with great commercial success with more than 450 units already sold.
The aircraft manufacturer also plans to increase production on another smaller single-aisle, the A220.
"Currently at a rate of about five aircraft produced per month at Mirabel (Canada, editor's note) and Mobile, Airbus confirms an increase to about six aircraft per month at the start of 2022" and envisages a monthly production of 14 A220 aircraft "by mid-decade, "the statement said.
# photo3
The recovery in the widebody segment, on the other hand, is proving to be much more difficult, with long-haul traffic remaining the most affected in the long term by the consequences of the health crisis: five A350s are produced each month (compared to 10 before the crisis). and "this figure should increase to six by the fall of 2022" and Airbus is maintaining its rate of two A330s per month (against more than three before the crisis).
Airbus announced at the end of April that it had made money for the second consecutive quarter, but remains cautious about the outlook for the market in the face of a crisis which is "not over".
In 2021, it plans to deliver as many planes as last year (566).
© 2021 AFP