After delivering 793 commercial aircraft in 2025, meeting its revised guidance, Airbus has published a tempered around 870 deliveries for 2026 today (February 19).
During today's earnings call, Airbus called out Pratt & Whitney as a key driver for this more steady guidance.
“On the A320 family, Pratt & Whitney's failure to commit to the number of engines ordered by Airbus is negatively impacting this year's delivery guidance and the ramp-up trajectory into next year,” said Airbus CEO and executive director Guillaume Faury.
The company had been targeting a monthly output rate of 75 aircraft per month on the A320 line by 2027.
“We now expect to reach a rate of between 70 and 75 aircraft a month by the end of 2027, stabilizing at rate 75 thereafter,” said Faury.
He said this was a “consequence” of Pratt & Whitney delivery delays.
In December 2025, Airbus revised its total delivery guidance to around 790 aircraft, down from its initial projection of approximately 820 jets. This was driven by “supplier quality” issues on fuselage panels, which had impacted deliveries for A320 family jets.
In 2024, Airbus had delivered 766 aircraft for the year. The European OEM had guided around 770 — meaning the total was in narrowly within range of its guidance. However, the summer of 2024 saw Airbus cut its guidance down from an 800-delivery target.
In addition to its 2026 delivery guidance, the company has guided an adjusted EBIT of €7.5bn and a free cash flow before customer financing of around €4.5bn.
Airbus CFO Thomas Toepfer said in the earnings call that EBIT for 2026 was negatively impacted by its acquisition of certain Spirit AeroSystems sites and assets, following the latter's reintegration into Boeing.
“The assessment that we have made is mainly a deterioration for free cash flow, and that is because of the late closing and the spillover of things that already should have been done in 2025, but that now have to be done in 2026," said Toepfer.
Toepfer noted later in the call that the Spirit integration also was a headwind in its delivery guidance for 2026.
Faury said the ramp-up of the A220 is “ongoing” and “still paced by the integration of Spirit AeroSystems work packages and the balance between supply and demand".
Additionally, the company is making “tactical adjustments” on the ramp-up of its A220 line — now targeting 12 per month by 2028.
The company is targeting around five to 12 A350s per month by 2028. “We want to see a material increase on that trajectory as soon as in 2026,” said Faury.
He said 2026 is a “year of ramp-up” for the A350.
“We had difficulties with interiors, mainly with seats in the past two years that has impacted the ability to deliver engines, but not impacting the ramp-up itself,” said Faury. “It's not impacting the ability to produce an A350 aircraft. It's impacting the ability to do the customisation, the cabin and interiors and then to deliver to customers with the full cabin completed.”
The integration of certain Spirit assets had also delayed the start of the ramp-up of the A350, he said in the call.
Airbus' shares fell over 6% today following the announcement of its 2026 delivery guidance, despite its strong financial results.
For 2025, Airbus recorded consolidated revenues of €73.4bn, up 6% on 2024. Adjusted EBIT was up 33% to €7.1bn. Net income soared 23% to €5.2bn, or €6.61 earnings per share.
The company's commercial aircraft segment recorded revenues of €52.6bn, up 4%, while the segment's EBIT fell 11% to €953 million. Adjusted EBIT for the segment was up 7% to €5.5bn.
Free cash flow before customer financing was €4.6bn in 2025, up from €4.5bn a year prior.
For the year, the company's commercial aircraft net orders totalled 889 aircraft, up from 826 in 2024, worth €92.3bn. The order backlog totalled 8,754 at the end of 2025, valued at €539.7bn.
The board of directors will propose a dividend payment of €3.20 per share to the annual general meeting on April 14, with a proposed payment date of April 23.