Falling Short – Will Airbus Struggle to meet Guidance?

Airbus is sticking to its annual guidance of 820 deliveries after another lackluster month of deliveries in July.  Airbus delivered 67 aircraft in July, bringing its total for the year to 373 deliveries.  With five months to go in the year, Airbus will need to average 89.4 aircraft per month to meet its guidance goal.

A Difficult Challenge

Airbus has historically demonstrated its ability to deliver over 100 aircraft per month, particularly in December, when year-end deliveries are pushed. However, without a sufficient build-up before year-end, Airbus may struggle to meet its delivery guidance.  While it is challenging to produce more than 100 aircraft per month, it is tough to accomplish several months consecutively.  As a result, August and September need to be higher than recent months.  That won’t be easy in August, the traditional holiday month in Europe.