Shares in Airbus tumbled on Tuesday after the aircraft maker cut its profit forecast and blamed persistent part shortages, which have affected production of its A320neo jets.
In an unscheduled update late on Monday, Europe’s biggest aerospace group trimmed its delivery forecast, and pushed back the schedule for the production ramp-up of A320neo planes. Airbus also took a €900m (£761m) charge for its troubled space activities.
Airbus shares fell almost 10% on Tuesday. The company now expects underlying operating income of €5.5bn this year, below its previous forecast of between €6.5bn and €7bn.
This is because it estimates that it will deliver 770 aircraft this year, down from its earlier forecast of 800, albeit higher than last year’s 735 jets. It also moved its production target of making 75 A320neo aircraft a month from 2026 to 2027. At the moment, it is making about 50 jets a month.
Airbus said it faced “persistent” and “specific” supply-chain problems, mainly affecting engines, cabin equipment and aerostructures (components of the airframe such as wings and fuselage).
The Airbus chief executive, Guillaume Faury, said: “We are facing headwinds right now; we have to bite the bullet.” He said supplies of engines for its bestselling A320 family of narrow-body jets had worsened “significantly” in recent months.
Faury said engine makers would have to “face the consequences” of any delays, which could imply penalties. He said Rolls-Royce-made engines for the A330neo were behind schedule, but not those for the A350.
Shortages of seats and cabin parts were another “very difficult situation,” Faury said.
The aerospace industry has been struggling to rehire workers and stabilise supplies after the Covid-19 pandemic left many suppliers with weak balance sheets.
As the world’s biggest aircraft producer, Airbus has borne the brunt of the problem while its main US rival Boeing faces regulatory curbs and an internal crisis, but some experts and suppliers, including engine makers, have long expressed doubts about its plans, saying they were too ambitious.
Faury said an uncertain outlook for the industrial commitments of aerostructures maker Spirit Aerosystems had contributed to the new, lower targets.
He declined to comment on a widely expected deal in which Airbus would acquire Spirit assets related to the A350 and A220 jet programmes, as part of a carve-up of the supplier with Boeing, which is expected in the coming days or weeks.
Boeing is inching closer to a deal to buy back Spirit after its former subsidiary made substantial progress in separate talks with Airbus over a transatlantic breakup of the struggling supplier, Reuters reported last week.
