Airbus was optimistic about the recovery of the commercial aircraft market starting in 2023. As a result, the European planemaker revealed a new update to the production plans for its jets.
The highlight of the forecast is the possibility of producing up to 75 A320 family aircraft per month starting in 2025. Currently, Airbus produces 40 series aircraft per month, which is expected to rise to 45 units in the fourth quarter of 2021.
The company is calling on its suppliers to prepare for a future production ratio of 64 aircraft as of the second quarter of 2023 and also foreseeing a scenario of 70 planes in 2024.
The other families will see small increases in production. The A220, assembled in Canada and the U.S., will jump from five to six monthly aircraft in 2022. Airbus, however, intends to reach a monthly rate of 14 jets in the middle of the decade.
The outlook for widebodies, in turn, remains low. The A350 is expected to rise from five to six planes per month in 2022 while the A330neo will remain assembled at a rate of two aircraft per month.
“The aviation sector is beginning to recover from the COVID-19 crisis,” said Guillaume Faury, Airbus CEO. “The message to our supplier community provides visibility to the entire industrial ecosystem to secure the necessary capabilities and be ready when market conditions call for it”, he added.
Airbus is in the process of optimizing its assembly lines with the goal of reducing costs and making the process more efficient. One of the initiatives involves the implementation of a new assembly line for the A320 family in the space where the A380 is currently being produced in Toulouse.
