Airbus Gets Closer to 800-Jet Delivery Goal

(Bloomberg) -- Airbus SE’s efforts to speed up jet deliveries are bearing fruit, with a bumper November tally of 89 planes handed to customers, making it more likely that the company will achieve its full-year goal.

• The number was 15 higher than in November 2017, according to data published Friday, suggesting that the European planemaker is finally getting a grip on glitches that slowed output earlier in the year.

Key Insights

• Airbus is seeking to make 800 deliveries in 2018 after shrinking the target from 820 at its third-quarter earnings update. The figure includes the A220 plane recently acquired from Bombardier Inc.. It’s still ambitious, requiring 127 handovers this month -- the same as it managed in December last year.
• Emirates has officially taken two A380s that it initially refused. The deliveries confirm a Bloomberg report that the Dubai carrier had agreed to take the superjumbos despite a dispute with Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc over the performance of the engines.
• Airbus delivered only one A330 wide-body to Beijing Capital Airlines, a part-owned subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate HNA Group, which has been struggling to fund deliveries of outstanding aircraft amid a cash crunch.
• November sales were slow, with the planemaker booking orders for just 43 new aircraft. That brought the 11-month total to 380, though confirmation of a deal with Irish leasing firm Avolon will add 100 more planes this month. It’s not uncommon for Airbus to rack up blockbuster transactions in the final days of the year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Benjamin Katz in London at bkatz38@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, Christopher Jasper, Tara Patel

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