Airbus reported Friday that it delivered 21 airplanes to 15 customers during the traditionally slow month of January, compared with 31 airplanes during the same month a year earlier. Deliveries last month consisted of three A220s, 12 A320neos, four A320ceos, and a single A350.
This drop falls roughly in line with the one-third decline in deliveries all of last year, when the company said it met targets set in an “adaptation plan” instituted soon after the onset of the Covid crisis. The company also reported no orders for commercial airplanes last month, compared with net orders for 274 aircraft in January 2020.
Airbus last month said it would slow a planned increase in A320-family production rates as it reacts to further demand pressure created by the Covid-19 pandemic. The expected gradual increase from the current average rate of 40 A320s per month will now increase to just 43 per month in the third quarter and 45 in the fourth quarter, compared with the previously planned jump to 47 of the narrowbodies starting in July.
The company’s A220 monthly production rate will increase from four to five aircraft per month starting at the end of the first quarter as previously planned, while widebody output remains at current levels. Airbus also said it will postpone a potential increase for the A350 and maintain its five-per-month rate. A330 production will remain at two-per-month for the foreseeable future.