Bullish Airbus speeds up aircraft construction as recovery takes hold Business

Airbus will produce more single-aisle aircraft in 2023 than before the coronavirus crisis as the European aerospace giant sees the aviation sector emerge from the pandemic.

The aircraft manufacturer slowed production at the start of the pandemic last year, as Covid-19 and border closures caused a massive drop in air traffic, severely hampering airline revenues.

But Airbus said on Thursday it expected the commercial aircraft market “to return to its pre-Covid level between 2023 and 2025, led by the single-aisle segment.”

“The aviation sector is starting to recover from the Covid-19 crisis,” Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said in a statement.

Airbus shares soared on the Paris stock exchange after the announcement.

Airbus currently produces 40 A320 Family jets per month, but the company said it would increase the average rate to 45 in the last three months of this year.

He added that suppliers should “prepare for the future by getting a firm rate” of 64 A320 planes by the second quarter of 2023. The rate will increase to 70 per month in 2024 and possibly to 75 by 2025.

The company was producing 60 planes per month before the pandemic and had planned to increase the rate to 63 in 2020 until Covid-19 changes those plans.

The aerospace company also cut 15,000 jobs out of 135,000 jobs, although the company avoided layoffs in France, Germany, Great Britain and Spain, its main sites.