Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Airbus delivers more planes in spite of the lower orders – The Echoes

In December, Airbus had to abuse the magic potion dear to the gauls of Asterix. During the last month of the year, the company has managed to deliver no less than 111 aircraft, against fifty in average during the other months of the year . And this, while gaining 321 orders, compared to 410 on the 11 previous months. A final sprint exceptional which allows Airbus to finish the race to the controls in the head, for the ninth time in ten years, with a total of 731 additional orders (excluding cancellations), against 668 for Boeing.

A backlog of 1000 billion dollars

The european airplane manufacturer, is certainly distanced by his european rival in number of deliveries, for the fifth consecutive year, with a total of 688 aircraft delivered year-on-year, compared to 748 deliveries for Boeing. But Airbus has sprayed its goal of 670 deliveries in 2016, beat its own production record and achieved its primary business objective : a number of orders higher than that of deliveries. This allows the backlog to reach a record level of 6.874 devices, of a total value, at list prices, more than 1,000 billion dollars.

to Catch up with the delays of the first half

It was not won. Between the engine problems on the airbus A320 Neo and the delays in deliveries of the equipment of the cabin on the A350, Airbus was still very much below its forecast of deliveries to mid-2016. the ” The year 2016 has not been easy, has recognized its Ceo, Fabrice Brégier. in On the first six months, we had delivered 12 A350 “, ” he recalls. To finally finish the year at 49 deliveries of the A350, quite close to the target of 50 deliveries. Same thing with the A320 Neo : if twenty devices were not able to be delivered for lack of engines Pratt & Whitney, Airbus is still able to deliver 68, 29 of which are powered by the tandem of franco-american CFM.

The decline in orders is confirmed…

However, beyond the industrial performance, 2016 has also confirmed the decrease of the catch of the commands initiated in 2015. If the sales teams of John Leahy broke records in December, order intake for the year 2016 are down 30 % compared to 2015 (1.035 orders) and 50 % compared to 2014 (1.456). The decline is particularly strong in the segments of the widebody, long-haul, with only 41 orders of the A350 and any new order for the A380. A phenomenon that is not unique to Airbus and that fuels speculation about the end of the bullish cycle in the aerospace sector.

But the deliveries continue to rise

A hypothesis strongly denied by John Leahy, the sales director of Airbus. the ” It is important to differentiate the cycle of orders and deliveries, says he. The order intake is slowing down, but concerning the shipping, we to increase for the 14th consecutive year. This will continue in 2017 with the increase of the production rates of the A320 Neo and the A350, which will allow us to go probably beyond 700 deliveries. On the other hand, the ratio of orders on deliveries will probably be lower than at a, he adds.But it is not a concern. my main concern is to have nothing more to sell by 2021, due to lack of availability “.

The ramp-up continues

the drop commands do not seem to worry about Fabrice Brégier. the ” When we start new programs, we hope to take a significant number of new orders to 10 years, as is the case for the A350 and A320 Neo. But when the device goes online, and it is not the same thing, he explains. in The decline in orders does not mean that the market is losing momentum. The air traffic has still increased by 6.5 % in 2016, and we will continue to increase our deliveries, amounting to 60 A320 per month by mid-2019, and 10 A350s per month by 2019 “.

To a balance between production and demand

in the medium term, to 2020, Airbus should have bridged the gap in deliveries with Boeing, with a total production of about 900 aircraft per year, says its CEO. This could allow to return to a balance between orders and deliveries, or between the supply and demand – after having reduced the time expectations for the client in resolving a bit of the huge order book. The ideal of all industrial !

Airbus increases its prices by 1% in 2017

As every year the 1st of January, Airbus has increased the list prices of the whole range. However, the average increase is limited to 1% this year, compared with 3% to 4% in the previous years, the rise of the dollar against the euro has already contributed to increase the margins of the european company, whose aircraft are still sold in the u.s. currency. The most expensive of the Airbus, the A380, from 432,6 million in 2016 to 436,9 million us dollars. The best-seller, the A320, is trading now from $ 99 million for the classic version and $ 108.4 million for the version Neo with high-performance motors. The longest of the A320 family, the A321, going from 125.7 to $ 127 million. The airbus A330, and competitor Boeing 787, with $ 259 million for the classic version and 290,6 million dollars for the new version A330 -900 Neo. As for the latest Airbus, the A350, he goes up to 311.2 million for the version 900 and 359,3 million for the stretched v ersion A350-1000, a competitor to Boeing’s 777.

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