Expects Future Traffic Growth To Drive Demand

In line with the current order intake, Airbus has decided to target 12 A380 deliveries per year from 2018.

“With this prudent, proactive step we are establishing a new target for our industrial planning, meeting current commercial demand but keeping all our options open to benefit from future A380 markets, which we consider in the environment of ongoing aviation growth and constrained airport capacity as a given,” says Fabrice Brégier, Airbus President & CEO. “We are maintaining, innovating and investing in the A380, keeping the aircraft the favourite of passengers, the airlines and airports - today and in the future. The A380 is here to stay!”

Airbus reached breakeven at 27 aircraft deliveries in 2015. The company will continue to improve the efficiency of its industrial system to achieve breakeven at 20 aircraft in 2017 and targets additional cost reduction initiatives to lower breakeven further.

With passenger traffic doubling every 15 years, the A380 is the one and only solution for sustainable growth at congested airports. Today, 18 global leading airlines have ordered a total of 319 A380s so far, building their brand with this flagship aircraft. The 193 megaliners that have been delivered to 13 operators serve over 100 routes on an ever expanding global network. Today every three minutes an A380 takes off or lands. In 2016, 14 aircraft have been delivered so far and underlines a stable production performance with the backlog standing at 126.

The 193 A380s in operation today are serving 38 of the 55 global aviation megacities (47 of which are either growth or schedule-constrained). The number of megacities will rise to 93 by 2035, serving 2.5 million daily passengers and 95%+ of long-haul traffic.

Airbus expects that based on the flexibility within the wider Airbus program ramp up environment and also opportunities within other Airbus Group Divisions, the impacts on employment will be mitigated.

(Source: Airbus news release. Image from file)

FMI: www.airbus.com