Supplier-side issues force Airbus to downgrade its delivery guidance to 790 aircraft
At the beginning of the year, Airbus planned to deliver "around" 820 aircraft in 2025.
Airbus has confirmed that due to a supplier quality issue affecting fuselage panels on A320neo family aircraft, it has been forced to downgrade its full-year delivery outlook to “around” 790 units. The company emphasized that the financial targets that it outlined with its nine-month results are maintained.
In a statement on December 3, 2025, Airbus disclosed that “in light of recent supplier quality issue on fuselage panels impacting its A320 Family delivery flow,” it had to adjust its commercial aircraft delivery guidance from “around” 820 aircraft to “around” 790 aircraft, reflecting a supplier-side issue that came to light only recently.
The European planemaker has maintained its financial guidance that it outlined with its nine-month results, which it published on October 29.
Airbus should end 2025 with adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of “around” €7 billion ($8.1 billion), and free cash flow (before customer financing) of “around” €4.5 billion ($5.2 billion).
First reports about supplier-side fuselage issues first surfaced on December 1, the first working day after the weekend during which Airbus and regulators warned airlines about a software problem potentially affecting around 6,000 A320 family aircraft elevator aileron computers (ELAC).
An exclusive Reuters report disclosed that the planemaker discovered a quality issue affecting some A320neo family aircraft fuselages, with sources telling the publication that the problem had impacted new aircraft deliveries, including estimates of up to 50 affected A320neo family jets.
This is the second year in a row that Airbus will fail to reach its initial full-year delivery target. In 2024, it aimed for “around” 800 aircraft deliveries, yet in June 2024, it adjusted the delivery target to “around” 770 aircraft, citing “specific supply chain challenges in a degraded operating environment.”
The planemaker’s initial goal this year was to hand over “around” 820 aircraft following 766 deliveries in 2024. According to its own orders and deliveries filings, its customers welcomed 585 aircraft during the first 10 months of 2025, following 78 deliveries in October.
Despite Airbus’ leadership reiterating multiple times that due to the engine supply bottlenecks, which had impacted deliveries in the first half of the year, the delivery profile in 2025 would be backloaded, the planemaker’s progress has seemingly stalled in November.
According to AirInsight’s delivery tracker, the European planemaker’s deliveries during the month numbered 76 aircraft, two fewer than in October, which could indicate that there had been an issue – or two, considering the software-related emergency directive – that affected Airbus’ ability to deliver aircraft during the month.
The company has scheduled to publish its order and delivery numbers for November on December 5, which will confirm the number of aircraft it had handed over to its airlines during the month. If it is 76, it would mean that Airbus had 661 deliveries as of November 30, leaving the manufacturer a month to deliver 129 aircraft to reach its new target.
In December 2024, Airbus’ deliveries numbered a whopping 123 aircraft.
Rytis Beresnevicius
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