Monday, January 15, 2018
Airbus Delivers Record 718 Aircraft in 2017, Beating Expectations: European company booked more orders than expected, though Boeing retained title of largest plane maker
The Wall Street Journal
By Robert Wall
January 15, 2018 3:03 a.m. ET
Airbus SE delivered a record number of planes in 2017 and booked more new jetliner orders than expected, marking a positive end to a difficult year for the European plane maker, marred by further allegations of wrongdoing, personnel turmoil, and supplier problems.
Airbus on Monday said it handed over 718 planes last year, meeting its target of more than 700 and topping the previous year’s total of 688 aircraft. The Toulouse, France-based company still trailed Boeing Co., though, which retained the title as largest plane maker by delivering an industry record 763 aircraft in 2017.
Airbus topped Boeing in new deals won, though. It booked 1,109 net orders compared with 912 for Boeing after the Toulouse, France-based company won 776 net orders in December. The total for last year far surpassed its own expectations. Executives began 2017 projecting that after several years of strong bookings new orders would fall short of deliveries.
Airbus instead ended the year with an industry record backlog of 7,265 planes to be built, with production stretching well into the next decade.
The record deliveries and strong backlog come at an important transition period for Airbus. Fabrice BrĂ©gier, chief operating officer and president of the commercial plane business, is departing. The company’s long-serving sales chief, John Leahy, also is leaving. Airbus has said Chief Executive Tom Enders will depart next year.
The departures come amid restructuring at Airbus that has raised tensions among different camps and persistent allegations of wrongdoing the company has been unable to put to bed. Last year, the U.S. began looking at Airbus potentially violating arms export rules, while Kuwait launched a probe into possible corruption on multibillion-dollar helicopter deals.
Investigations in other jurisdictions, including France, Germany and the U.K., also continue. The company has said it is cooperating with the various probes. Airbus Saturday said it was working to resolve the German investigation.
Airbus throughout 2017 struggled with supplier problems that slowed deliveries and raised questions over whether the company could meet targets. It delivered a record 127 planes in December to cross the finishing line.
Even though Airbus met its delivery target, it fell slightly short of an internal goal of building 720 planes. First delivery of two new planes, the A330neo wide-body and A350-1000 long-range jet also slipped into 2018. Airbus is expected to raise output again this year.
Original article can be found here: https://www.wsj.com
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Gotta love those global warming alarmists in the EU. Did the 'record number of jets' produced by Airbus use solar power to fly? That's a lot of Carbon Dioxide going into the atmosphere.
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