Leeham News and Analysis
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Airbus 1H2025 results: A solid first half except for 60 gliders
By Bjorn Fehrm
July 31, 2025, © Leeham News: Airbus CEO Guillame Faury and CFO Thomas Toepfer presented the Airbus first half 2025 results yesterday. The Airbus performance is very much to plan, except there are 60 A320/A321 gliders standing on the aprons, missing engines.
“The lion’s share of these engines are CFM LEAPs, but Pratt & Whitney GTFs are also missing,” said Faury. “Our plan, supported by the engine OEMs, is to be at zero gliders by year-end”.
Except for delivering 60 A320/A321 less than planned, Airbus is executing to plan. “We are on plan with A320/A321 production. Finished airframes are standing waiting for engines,” continued Faury. “Overall, our divisions are on track with their actions and deliveries during the first half of 2025. Our guidance for 2025 is unchanged”.
Group-level results
Revenue for 1H2025 was €28.8bn (€29.6bn 1H2024), and EBIT Adjusted (mapping operational achievements) was €1.4bn (€2.2bn 1H2024). The decline in revenue and EBIT is due to the 60 aircraft that were not delivered in 1H2025.
The free cash flow for 1H2025 was -€1.6bn (-€0.5bn), once again reflecting the glider effect. The net cash position at the end of 1H2025 was €7.0bn, with total liquidity at €30bn.
Guidance for 2025 was unchanged at:
- Airbus targets 820 commercial aircraft deliveries.
- Airbus expects an EBIT Adjusted of €7.0bn.
- Free Cash Flow of €4.5bn.
The free trade agreement for civil aircraft between the EU and the US has addressed the threat of tariffs on these deliveries to the US.
Commercial aircraft
Commercial aircraft had net orders of 402 aircraft (310). The backlog is now at 8,754 (8,585) aircraft.
Of the 306 (323) delivered aircraft, 41 were A220, 232 A321/A320, 12 A330, and 21 A350.
The targeted delivery rates are unchanged at 14 for A220 in 2026, 75 A320/A321s in 2027, 12 A350s in 2028, and now 5 A330s in 2029 (was a steady four from now on).
The 60 A320/A321 standing without engines comes from GE’s blade yield problems from early 2025, followed by an eight-week strike at SAFRAN’s CFM final assembly line in Villaroche, France. It put CFM on the back foot regarding LEAP deliveries, which it will take until 4Q2025 to fix. Pratt & Whitney GTFs have slipped behind in the last months as well, once again due to a three-week Final Assembly Line strike in Connecticut in May.
The ramp-up in rate of the A350 is stressed by the carve out of Airbus activities from Spirit Aerosystems, but Airbus says it is already working with the A350 mid-section entities to improve production. The carveout will finish in 4Q2025 as the Boeing takeover takes longer than planned (Airbus can’t finish its part until Boeing’s takeover is completed).
Helicopters
The Airbus helicopter had delivery and services revenue of €3.7bn (€3.2bn) and EBIT adjusted of €249m (€ 230 m).
Defense and Space
Defense and Space has a growing Military market, as European defense spending is increasing. The 1H2025 revenue increased by 16.6% to €5.8 bn (€5.0 bn). EBIT Adjusted was €265m (-€807m).
Work with Thales and Leonardo to merge the Space segments is progressing to plan.
Nice job by Airbus! Kudos.
Airbus Plans A330 Rate Hike
I’ve been wondering when they’d do that. They’ve been at 3 per month, I think; maybe up to 5?
A330NEO is 5 by 2029. 4 now.
Not exactly fast.
Better slow than MAX style.
How many 767 will Boeing produce by then?
Boeing is making around 4 x 767 a month.
How many by 2027 depends on if they speed up (or the USAF wants them to) the KC-46A output.
The special KC-46A equipment means coordinating with suppliers.
Really? How many 767 were delivered last year?
Any idea what’s the backlog? Even at two a month, the backlog will run out long before the end of 2027! 🤣
Year Total 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018
Orders 1,430 – 23 30 31 65 11 26 40
Deliveries 1,330 14 18 32 33 32 30 43 27
Sorry for the skewed numbers. In the past 7.5 years, a high of 43 and a low of 18 (last year).
Wiki has 95 orders in the backlog.
Sourced from Boeing
https://www.boeing.com/commercial#/orders-deliveries
Didn’t Ortberg walk back from ramping production of the MAX by five every six months recently?
Bold words but fizzles out. When will our poster learn their lesson?
Simply the best info he had at the time.
Without the -10 line that drops things off. The wrong approach on the Cowl Anti ice is recent and sets everything back.
FAA has a new admin and it looks like he wants his own assessment before he approves any ramp up in Renton.
Airbus has 60 gliders right now. Its not an easy bussiness
Apparent has nothing to do with the 10, not sure where you got your info.
I don’t see anyone would agree that has anything to do with the FAA. New admin is known for months. That’s a silly excuse.
It proves AB is making 60 or more a month. Remind me how many BA delivered last month?
By the end of the year, I see that AB will beat BA in delivery. Just wait a few months and see what happens.
Airbus is going to open a new FAL by the end of this year. Whoa!