Record number of jets delivered in December sees Airbus hit year end target

Airbus delivered over 700 jets in 2017 according to Reuters – in the process the planemaker broke company records by meeting its target for the year, industry sources told the news agency.

Exact figures, the report says “have been kept under wraps” ahead of an announcement on January 15, but sources told Reuters a late push by Airbus saw them hand over a record monthly total of jets in December, “surpassing the previous monthly peak of 111 seen in the closing weeks of 2016.”

The planemaker delivered 74 jets in November to bring total deliveries in the first 11 months of 2017 to 591 aircraft which implies deliveries of at least 703 aircraft for the year, up at least 2% from 2016.

Airbus previously set a new company record in 2016 handing over 688 aircraft to 82 customers.

The report says “Airbus stuck throughout 2017 to an official target of more than 700 deliveries for the year, but abandoned a more ambitious informal goal of more than 720 deliveries in October due to continued delays in engine deliveries for the A320neo family.”

Without disclosing numbers, Chief Operating Officer Fabrice Bregier thanked staff in a memo for “huge collective efforts” that had seen the company break records for deliveries logged both in one month and in one-year industry” Reuters reports.