Airbus warns customers about possible delays in A320neo family deliveries

Airbus has cautioned customers about possible delays in the delivery of A320neo family aircraft, including the A321neo, the largest variant of the family. Sources familiar with the matter informed Reuters that the delivery of several hundred A320neo family aircraft could be delayed by up to three months. However, the European Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) has reiterated its production targets for 2024 and beyond.

In December 2022, a few months before Airbus reported its full-year results, the company stated that it would not meet the annual target of delivering 700 aircraft for the year due to a “complex operating environment.” When announcing its 2022 financial results in February 2023, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury acknowledged that the OEM had to adjust its operations to match supply, which led to lower commercial aircraft deliveries than originally planned.

In Q1 2023, Airbus delivered 127 aircraft, mostly comprising the A320neo family, while its rival Boeing handed over 127 jets to customers during the same period. As of March 31, 2023, Airbus has a backlog of 6,604 narrow-body jets, including the A220, A320ceo, and A320neo families. The A321neo backlog shows that the European manufacturer has delivered 3,682 of 4,672 aircraft by the end of Q1 2023, while the A320neo has 2,293 unfilled orders.

In April 2023, during a visit to China by French President Emmanuel Macron and the President of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen, Airbus signed an agreement with the local government to expand its Final Assembly Line (FAL) in Tianjin. The move is aimed at creating more flexibility in the supply chain and meeting market needs to achieve a global A320 Family production rate of 75 by 2026.