Airbus falls 5% after targeting only 870 deliveries this year as Boeing competition tightens

Airbus mentioned Thursday it expects to ship 870 business plane in 2026, barely fewer than the roughly 880 analysts had anticipated.

It comes as stress is constructing for the European planemaker, with U.S. rival Boeing exhibiting indicators of restoration after years of disaster which has benefited Airbus, and mounting tensions with key suppliers.

“International demand for business plane underpins our ongoing manufacturing ramp-up, which we’re managing whereas going through important Pratt & Whitney engine shortages,” mentioned CEO Guillaume Faury.

Airbus has skilled delays on engines equipped by RTX subsidy Pratt & Whitney, which Faury mentioned was “the one most essential subject we’re coping with.”

Shares have been final seen down 5.4%, bringing the inventory to unfavorable territory to this point in 2026.

Nevertheless, with higher readability on 2026 supply targets and visibility on the manufacturing of its A320 household of planes, a key overhang is eliminated, mentioned Barclays analyst Milene Kerner.

“Pratt & Whitney’s failure to decide to the variety of engines ordered by Airbus is negatively impacting this year’s steerage and the ramp-up trajectory,” Airbus mentioned in a press release. As a consequence, it expects its narrowbody output fee to be between 70 and 75 plane a month by the top of 2027, and stabilizing at 75 a month thereafter.

“The event isn’t a surprise given the slower supply development noticed by 2025,” Kerner mentioned. Airbus had beforehand focused 75 plane per 30 days in 2027.

Pratt & Whitney mother or father RTX did not instantly reply to a CNBC request for remark.

The sentiment round Airbus has turned markedly extra bitter for the reason that starting of the year, UBS analyst Ian Douglas-Pennant mentioned forward of the full-year report printed early Thursday.

Airbus delivered 793 business plane final year, barely beating its revised goal of 790. The corporate had minimize its earlier objective of 820, citing provider high quality points involving fuselage panels that affected deliveries of its A320 household.

Barclays analysts described the disruption as a “short-term execution setback” and mentioned the “long-term ramp” remained “intact.”

Airbus has loved a robust momentum over the previous few years as rival Boeing has been battling a disaster over design and manufacturing points for its best-selling narrowbody airplane, the 737 Max. 

Final year was characterised by robust demand for all Airbus’ merchandise, which additionally embody its helicopters and protection and house items, Faury mentioned Thursday.

Deliveries are a carefully watched metric as planemakers obtain the majority of the fee for an plane when it is handed over to the client. 

Airbus delivered 193 extra planes than Boeing in 2025 however Boeing acquired extra orders for the primary time since 2018.

That, together with Airbus’ latest high quality points, has led some to see the tide altering for Boeing below the management of CEO Kelly Ortberg.

Ortberg, who took the highest job in 2024 to steer it out of disaster, was optimistic about his firm’s capacity to ramp up manufacturing within the close to time period, after it reported fourth-quarter income forward of Wall Road’s expectations in late January.

Airbus and Boeing’s order backlogs have spiked lately attributable to provide chain points that arose through the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Boeing additionally secured extra deliveries and internet orders within the first month of 2026 than Airbus. 

Boeing delivered 46 plane in January and booked 103 internet orders, whereas Airbus reported only 19 deliveries and 49 internet orders over the identical interval.

Airbus’ January quantity was notably smooth, even accounting for the truth that its deliveries are usually decrease firstly of the year.

On a name with analysts on Thursday, Faury mentioned the low January and February deliveries have been primarily pushed by the problems with the fuselage panels, not by engine delays.

“Whereas January deliveries in any given year shouldn’t be traditionally indicator of manufacturing charges for the year, we view 19 deliveries in Jan-26 as materially weaker than anticipated vs 25 delivered in Jan-25,” mentioned UBS in a word to purchasers final week.

“As a result of usually low ranges YTD, we won’t deduce a lot from this pattern aside from that the anticipated 2026 supply profile is more likely to be back-end-loaded once more,” famous Barclays analysts. 

Airbus reported early Thursday adjusted earnings earlier than curiosity and tax (EBIT) of two.98 billion euros within the fourth quarter, beating estimates of two.87 billion, in keeping with a company-provided consensus ballot and 17% increased year-on-year.

Income rose 5% from final year and got here in at 25.98 billion euros within the quarter, barely under the 26.5 billion euros anticipated.

For the total year, EBIT totaled 7.13 billion euros, on income of 73.4 billion euros.

Wanting forward, Airbus mentioned it expects adjusted EBIT of round 7.5 billion euros and free money move earlier than buyer financing of about 4.5 billion euros in 2026, alongside its goal of round 870 business plane deliveries.

— CNBC’s Lee Ying Shan contributed to this report.