Airbus is aiming to further increase deliveries of airliners this year, building on the 4% growth it achieved in 2024 when customers received 766 aircraft. Announcing full-year financial results on Thursday, the European aerospace company said it is targeting a further 7.3% improvement in 2025 by delivering 820 aircraft, in the face of continuing supply-chain difficulties.

The aerospace and defense side reported a 6% increase in revenues to reach €69.2 billion. However, charges mainly relating to issues in its space activities meant that adjusted earnings of €5.4 billion, which is almost 7% down from 2023 mainly due to charges incurred due to difficulties with space programs.

Working through a commercial aircraft backlog that grew last year to 8,658 based on 826 net orders, Airbus has had to make some adjustments to delivery timelines for the A350 and A320 families. It has delayed first deliveries of the new A350 freighter from 2026 until the second half of 2027 and will now not reach its target of producing 14 A220s each month until next year.

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury cited production issues at engine supplier CFM International and aerostructures manufacturer Spirit Aerosystems as significant drags on rates of output. The group is in the process of finalizing a deal to acquire parts of the Spirit business that contribute to Airbus programs.

Acknowledging that a slow pace of engine deliveries is a significant “bottleneck” for single-aisle airliners, Faury said Airbus and its partners face a “contradiction” in that airlines are demanding higher rates of output for both maintaining existing equipment and to speed up deliveries of new aircraft.

Through the early months of this year, Airbus accepts that CFM will deliver more hardware for maintenance, repair and overhaul purposes before it is able to increase deliveries to the production lines. The result is that there are currently a growing number of “gliders” that cannot be delivered from Airbus’s Hamburg assembly line until their engines arrive.

Helicopters Excel, Hydrogen Still on the Cards

Helicopters were a highlight of the Airbus balance sheet for 2024, which Faury said had been an “exceptional year” for that business unit. New orders totalling 450—14.5% up on 2023—included growing sales of both light single- and twin-engined models, as well as increased civil and military demand for the large H225 rotorcraft.

During the course of 2024, Airbus Helicopters started flight testing with its Racer technology demonstrator featuring a hybrid-electric powertrain developed by Safran. In seven flights conducted to date the rotorcraft has already logged a top speed of 227 knots and Faury said "there could be more to come."

Quizzed on longer-term product development, Faury insisted that hydrogen propulsion is still central to Airbus’s plans, despite the announcement earlier this month that it won’t meet its initial target of bringing a new airliner to market as originally projected through its ZeroE program by 2035. The revised timeline now stretches to 2040, with Airbus confirming that the focus of its work will now be on fuel cell-based technology.

Faury said the ZeroE team is now engaging with a widening group of prospective partners covering key technologies including fuel cells, cryogenic tanks and propellers. Airbus has yet to determine what a commercially viable passenger load and range will be for the new airliners, and it is open to working with regional airliner group ATR, in which it has a 50% stake, and its co-owner Leonardo.

At the same time, Airbus is committed to increasing its investment to accelerate the adoption of sustainable aviation fuel. During 2024, SAF accounted for 18% of the fuel the manufacturer used for its own flights, with three quarters of airliner deliveries made using reduced carbon blends, as it works to a target of 30% by 2030.

Airbus’s financial guidance for 2025, including adjusted earnings of €7 billion, do not factor in possible impacts from tariffs threatened by the new U.S. administration. Faury told reporters his team is reviewing all possible scenarios and the company’s ability to adapt.

“We believe that we should not be impacted by tariffs because we buy, develop and manufacture a lot in the U.S. and we are the top export customer for the U.S. [aerospace] industry so for a true transatlantic ecosystem tariffs would be a lose-lose.” Faury commented. Airbus is looking at alternatives to U.S. suppliers that could be used for aircraft exported to other markets, but Faury cautioned that costs for U.S. airlines, and their customers, would inevitably increase if sanctions are imposed.

Airbus's Defence & Space division saw increased Eurofighter orders last year from partner nations Spain and Italy. Faury said that escalating security challenges are increasingly part of the context for defense export campaigns, especially in the face of shifting U.S. military priorities. Referring specifically to the A400M multi-role aircraft, for which the manufacturer now has a backlog of 48 units, he concluded that, "its strategic and tactical role has a lot of meaning in the current security context."