Airbus SE boosted its financial targets for the second time this year, while confirming a production ramp-up that would cement the European planemaker’s advantage over rival Boeing Co.
The European planemaker said adjusted operating profit would reach 4.5 billion euros (US$5.2 billion) this year and reversed some of the charges it had taken for COVID-19 disruptions as it gains confidence the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact is fading.
During the crisis, Airbus extended its lead in the all-important narrow-body segment that is now leading the demand comeback.
Photo: Reuters
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury is seeking to rally suppliers still hurting from the downturn behind a plan to accelerate production toward levels envisioned before the pandemic hit.
“As far as we are concerned at Airbus, we are now in the ramp-up,” Faury said on a conference call. “We see all the difficulties associated with going from hibernation for 15 months back to business.”
The aggressive stance contrasts with Boeing, who on Wednesday said production issues with the 787 Dreamliner could cost it US$1 billion, while deliveries of the 737 MAX — the competitor to Airbus’s top-selling A320 series — would not resume in China until early next year.
While air travel is recovering, Airbus is grappling with supply-chain issues that have roiled manufacturers across the globe. The company stood by an earlier goal of delivering 600 jets this year, despite what Faury termed issues with a small number of suppliers.
Furlough programs have protected Airbus from labor shortages, but the company is having difficulties with on-time deliveries from certain suppliers, which he blamed for disappointing deliveries last month.
Handovers this month are also likely to fall short of current output targets, Faury said on the call.
While Airbus yesterday made some adjustments to its production plans, Faury insisted there has been “no change of substance” when it comes to the A320.
He added that he was still assessing whether to commit to 75 a month by 2025.
Airbus would target a rate of 65 per month on the top-selling narrow-body program by summer 2023, versus a previous plan to reach 64 in the second quarter of that year.
A planned ramp-up of the larger A350 would also come slightly later, with build rates now seen going from five a month to six in early 2023 rather than late next year.
The company also set a date to increase production of its wide-body A330, with plans to build almost three planes a month at the end of next year from two currently.
German airline Condor ordered seven of the model in August.
Adjusted operating profit was previously seen at 4 billion euros for the year. Free cash flow before mergers and acquisitions, and customer financing is expected to hit 2.5 billion euros, versus the earlier outlook for 2 billion euros, the company said in a statement.
Airbus said the new forecasts assume no further disruptions to the world economy or air traffic.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last