Airbus expects the commercial aircraft market to recover to pre-pandemic levels between 2023 and 2025. Therefore, the company has updated production plans for the benefit of suppliers to provide visibility and to secure the appropriate level of long-term capacity.
On Thursday (May 27, 2021), Airbus announced a production plan update to provide visibility to suppliers so they can make the necessary investments to secure long-term capacity and production rate readiness. The company expects the commercial aircraft market to recover to pre-pandemic level between 2023 and 2025, with single-aisle aircraft demand leading the way. Airbus has confirmed an average A320 Family production rate of 45 per month in the fourth quarter of 2021 and calls on suppliers to prepare for a firm rate increase to 64 aircraft per month by the second quarter of 2023. The company is also asking suppliers to envision a rate of 70 by the first quarter of 2024 and is investigating opportunities to increase the monthly production rate to 75 by 2025.
For the A220 Family, the production rate from Mirabel and Mobile is currently five per month, which will increase to six in 2022. By the middle of the decade, Airbus expects the production rate to increase to 14 per month.
In Thursday’s announcement, Airbus’ CEO, Guillaume Faury, said,
“The aviation sector is beginning to recover from the COVID-19 crisis. 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. In parallel, we are transforming our industrial system by optimising our aerostructures set-up and modernising our A320 Family production facilities. All these actions are set in motion to prepare our future.”
Airbus also provided supplier visibility related to production levels for widebody aircraft. The A350 Family is currently being produced at a rate of five per month, which will be increased to six by the fall of 2022, while the A330 Family remains at an average production rate of two per month.
Source: Airbus