Record year for Airbus as planemaker hits 2016 deliver targets

Airbus has posted an 8 percent rise in the number of aircraft it delivered in 2016 up for the 14th year in a row.

The company delivered a record 111 jets alone in December in order to hit full year targets.

The European plane maker has set a new company record of 688 aircraft delivered to 82 customers the previous record of 635 set in 2015, Airbus had set a target of 650 deliveries for 2016.

These included 545 single aisle A320 Family of which 68 were A320neo, 66 A330s, 49 A350 XWBs and 28 A380s. Over 40 percent of single aisle deliveries were the larger A321 models.

A last-minute surge in new orders saw Airbus beat arch-rival Boeing with 731 net orders from 51 customers of which eight are new, versus 668 new Boeing’s ordered in 2016.

Both Airbus and Boeing however saw demand for new planes fall to their lowest total since 2010.

Fabrice Brégier, President of Airbus Commercial Aircraft and Chief Operating Officer of Airbus said;

We delivered on our objectives in a challenging environment, proving our ramp-up readiness for the future. I salute all our teams on this outstanding achievement.

Our strong operational performance combined with a robust market eager to place orders and take deliveries of aircraft in all sizes are now an excellent springboard for our next steps: Boosting deliveries, harnessing the advantages of Digital and extending our service portfolio globally.

Airbus defended It’s A380 program on at today’s presentation, saying that orders for very large planes will increase because of a projected doubling in air travel over the next 15 years.

“You can’t have double the number of airplanes flying, so unless you want to have restrictions on people flying, you will need bigger airplanes,” said John Leahy, the company’s chief operating officer.

There are 207 of the double-decker aircraft currently in use around the world, 112 are on order but well below the 1,200 orders Airbus expected when the aircraft was introduced in 2005.

“Would I like the orders to be stronger? Of course I would,” Leahy said Wednesday.