(BFM Bourse) – The aeronautical group would have narrowly missed its annual delivery target, despite a final push in December, according to information reported by Bloomberg.
Like every year, the important question for Airbus is whether the aircraft manufacturer will meet its annual delivery target. For 2024, this question was more than legitimate as the aeronautical group suffered from supply concerns for its engines, in particular, but also in aerostructures (fuselage, wings, nacelles) and interior equipment.
At the end of November, Airbus delivered 643 aircraft, which represents 83% of the target for 2024, or “around” 770 units. The former EADS is therefore obliged to work hard in the last month of the year to meet its objectives. The company must therefore accelerate the pace to reach 127 deliveries in December, compared to 84 in November.
A slight hiccup?
However, the aeronautics group would have missed its annual objective by a hair, despite lively deliveries in December, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing sources close to the matter. Airbus would have delivered 120 planes in December, or 43% more than in November. An annual rate of deliveries which would therefore bring to 760 the number of devices delivered over the entire past financial year, sources told Bloomberg, who warned that the final count could differ slightly. Asked by Bloomberg, an Airbus spokesperson declined to comment.
These figures are therefore slightly lower than the objective set by Airbus of delivering “around” 770 aircraft. A target which was lowered in June, compared to the initial objective of 800 aircraft deliveries set at the start of 2024, due to tensions in the logistics chain.
But ultimately, the deliveries as communicated by these sources cited by Bloomberg would be close to analysts' expectations. Jefferies projected 765 devices delivered in 2024, when Deutsche Bank retained a forecast of 761 devices.
Royal Bank of Canada, for its part, believed that the market had already priced in this shortfall. “We do not expect the company to report spectacular numbers for December, but do anticipate total deliveries in the range of 760 units this year, which would not be a disappointment to investors,” the design office indicated.
Remember that the aircraft manufacturer's deliveries are closely followed by analysts and the market simply because most of the payment for an aircraft occurs when the aircraft is hand-delivered to its customer. Deliveries therefore make it possible to monitor the evolution of the cash generated by Airbus.
On the Paris Stock Exchange, the market is not panicking after the information from Bloomberg. The title of the former EADS contained its decline to less than 1%, at 158.56 euros this Friday around 10:45 a.m., still largely retaining its advance acquired the day before.
In the European top 25 of Bank of America
On Thursday, Airbus took the lead in the CAC 40 (+3.5%) for the first session of 2025 on the Paris Stock Exchange. The file then benefited from the support of Bank of America, which renewed its purchase recommendation on the stock, accompanied by a price target of 180 euros. The design office even included the aircraft manufacturer in its list of 25 European titles to hold in 2025, estimating that the hardest part is over for Airbus.
In its note, Bank of America indicated that it expects a robust month of December for Airbus with more than 110 deliveries in the last month of 2024, a cumulative of 750 to 760 over the whole year. elapsed.
The market should, for its part, be fixed next week. Airbus is expected to officially communicate its 2024 orders and deliveries on January 9. The aircraft manufacturer should also soon give indications on its target for 2025, something that the group has not yet done. Bloomberg Intelligence analysts, for their part, expect the European group to deliver 869 commercial aircraft for the current year.
Sabrina Sadgui – ©2025 BFM Bourse
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