Airbus jet deliveries decline in November as production issues pressure full-year target

Airbus said it handed over 72 planes in November, bringing its delivery total to 657 so far this year and emphasising a slower month as the company grappled with a software glitch and production issues that led to inspections.

The November total is down from the 78 planes handed over in October and the 84 delivered in November ⁠2024, the European plane maker's reports show.

The latest tally means the world's biggest aircraft manufacturer must deliver 133 planes in December to meet its recently revised annual goal of 790 deliveries in 2025. By comparison, Airbus delivered 123 aircraft in December 2024.

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Plane makers often make a big push in the last month of the year to meet delivery goals, but for Airbus this effort is complicated by recent industrial issues. The company has faced inspections after a production quality issue related to metal fuselage panels on some of it top-selling A320 planes. This came just days after the biggest emergency recall in the company's history for a software update on its A320 model to fix a problem that meant “intense solar radiation” could corrupt data critical to the function of flight controls.

Airbus this week cut its annual commercial aircraft delivery target for the year to about 790, down from a previous goal of 820 planes.

For plane makers, December is "crunch time" and the "pressure is on", Addison Schonland, partner at US-based AirInsight, said in a note on Wednesday. "Meeting or beating targets is on the line. Leadership made promises and statements earlier on. Failure to meet targets won't go over well. But meeting, or beating, them could mean rewards," he said.

He expects the final assembly lines of plane makers to be busy by the end of the year. Historical data from AirInsight over the past five years shows the date of the highest delivery for Airbus, Boeing, Embraer and Comac was in December, or close to it.

The December delivery surge is a structural pattern, not a one-off phenomenon, the report found. "It’s a predictable structural behaviour in the commercial aircraft business," Mr Schonland said. "Suppliers know this surge happens and still struggle to support it."

December deliveries can also influence a plane maker's financial results.