Airbus Cuts Production By A Third, Adjusting To Reduced Demand As Coronavirus Decimates Air Travel

Airbus has cut its aircraft production by a third, adjusting to the business impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The aircraft manufacturer announced new average production rates for its narrow-body and wide-body aircraft.

The aircraft manufacturer has adjusted the production rate of A320 aircraft to 40 per month, A330 aircraft to two per month, and A350 aircraft to six per month, though it omitted planned production rates for the new A220.

Airbus also announced the it had received 21 net orders and made 36 aircraft deliveries in the month of March, despite market changes and production line closures. The company delivered 55 aircraft in February and attributes the lower number of deliveries to customer deferrals and other factors related to coronavirus. Airbus booked 290 net commercial aircraft orders and delivered 122 aircraft, in all, during the first quarter of this year. Airbus has built 60 aircraft during the quarter which remain undelivered because of the pandemic.  

Airbus Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury described the impact of the pandemic as “unprecedented.” and said the company is maintaining an open dialogue with customers and suppliers to adjust the new market conditions. “Our airline customers are heavily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis,” he said. “We are actively adapting our production to their new situation and working on operational and financial mitigation measures to face reality.”

Earlier this week, Airbus paused production at its German sites in Bremen and Stade through April 27, while maintaining support services. It also paused production at its A220/A320 manufacturing facility in Mobile, Alabama through April 29, maintaining basic maintenance, safety and inventory activities.

The manufacturer attributed the halt in production to factors related to the coronavirus pandemic including “high inventory levels in the sites and the various government recommendations and requirements which impact at different stages of the overall industrial production flow.”