By David Kaminski-Morrow2021-05-20T09:49:00+01:00
Even if the home-turf showcase of the Paris air show had not joined the long list of exhibition casualties, Airbus might have struggled to scrape together sufficient material around which to build the sort of upbeat media event schedule to which it has become accustomed.
Over the year since March 2020, the point at which the pandemic started to throttle the global air transport system, Airbus took orders for just 66 aircraft – only three of which were widebodies: two of them A330s for military tanker conversion.
Source: Airbus
A320neo-family output will climb to 43 per month in the third quarter of this year
Airbus systems procurement chief Benoit Schultz is to take over as head of the A220 operation, as chief executive of Airbus Canada, succeeding Philippe Balducchi who has led the division for nearly three years.
By David Kaminski-Morrow2021-02-18T11:25:00+00:00
Airbus is intending to achieve break-even on its twin-aisle programmes at the reduced rate of production, while it acknowledges that a shift in demand mix puts increased pressure on its loss-making A220 lines.
Production of twin-aisle jets is running at five-monthly for the A350 and two-monthly for the A330.
“We want to get to [widebody] break-even, even at the current rate,” said Airbus chief financial officer Dominik Asam, speaking during a full-year briefing on 18 February.
He says the airframer’s restructuring efforts are “pushing us a long way towards that goal” and that the twin-aisle programmes should be “break-even or better” in the “not-too-distant future”.