Airbus earns 4,247 million euros in 2022
The European aeronautics group Airbus obtained last year a record profit of 4,247 million euros, a relatively modest increase of 1% in a complicated industrial context marked by inflation and, above all, by problems in the supply chain.
Its CEO, Guillaume Faury, described these results as “solid”, in a statement published Thursday by Airbus, but stressed the “adverse operating environment that did not allow our supply chain to recover at the pace we expected”.
That was reflected in the net operating result, which even fell back slightly to €5,325 million, compared with €5,342 million in 2021.
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But even more so in commercial aircraft deliveries, which could not pass 661, and although they are more than the 611 aircraft of the previous financial year, they remain below the 700 that for months had been the company’s target.
Airbus’ total turnover grew by 13% to 58,763 million euros, and this is largely explained by that of its commercial aircraft division, which rose by 15% to 41,428 million euros.
The helicopter business brought it €7,048 million, an 8% increase that mainly reflects the progression in services, but also in deliveries in number (344 after 338 in 2021).
Defense revenues rose by 11% to €11,259 million, primarily due to military aircraft and the Eurodrone program.
However, this defense division’s adjusted Ebit suffered a 45% cut to €384 million, which the company attributed to the loss on the launch of two Pleiades Neo satellites in December and successive delays on the new Ariane 6 rocket, which is due to replace the Ariane 5 at the end of its career.
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Another of the stones in Airbus’ shoe was once again the A400 military transport aircraft program, which is assembled in Seville, with a new provision of 477 million euros (258 million euros for the fourth quarter accounts alone), in addition to those of previous years, which globally already exceeded 10 billion euros.
This new charge for the A400M is due, according to the company’s explanations, to “an update of the contract estimate” at its completion, taking into account in particular the implications of inflation and the “risks” related to the development of the specifications still to be agreed with the customer countries.
Airbus has not set a delivery target for the A400M for this year after the 10 it put in the hands of its customers in 2022 (it had been 8 in 2021).
The drop in the Ebit of the defense business was offset by the helicopter division, up 19% to 639 million euros, and above all by the commercial aircraft division, up 29% to 4.6 billion euros.
In the latter, which is the real cash register of Airbus, the great challenge is to increase production rates in order to be able to serve customers who would like to incorporate aircraft into their fleets more quickly, and this requires suppliers to be able to deliver their components to the European giant.
Airbus aims to move its flagship A320 family of single-aisle aircraft to a production rate of 65 units per month by the end of 2024 and 75 by 2026, with the A321XLR entering service by the second quarter of next year.
As for twin-aisle aircraft, from around three A330s per month at the end of 2022, the target is to rise to four by 2024; and from around six A350s now to nine by the end of 2025.
Last year, Airbus won gross orders for 1,078 commercial aircraft and 820 if cancellations are deducted, figures that exceed those for 2021 (771 and 507, respectively), but reflect these challenges to accelerate its production line.
As for this year’s outlook, Airbus has set a target of delivering 720 commercial aircraft, adjusted Ebit of 6 billion euros and cash flow of 3 billion.
With information from EFE
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