European aerospace manufacturer Airbus has reported “solid” earnings for the third quarter and the first nine months of the year.
Third-quarter revenues climbed 14% to €17.8bn, while EBIT was up 42% to €1.8bn. Net income for the period increased 14% to €1.1bn, or €1.41 per share.
The company’s commercial segment generated €13.1bn in revenues, up 12%, while EBIT for the segment climbed 47% to €1.3bn.
Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus, said during the company’s earnings call that the current balance between supply and demand has led to an “adjustment” of the A220 ramp-up trajectory.
He said the new target of 12 next year will allow give the company time to integrate certain Spirit AeroSystems work packages, which were acquired as a result of Boeing’s acquisition of Spirit.
These packages are mostly related to wings and the progressive introduction of engine durability improvements. The closing date for the Spirit integration is expected before the end of this year.
“This means more work to reach breakeven, and our team are on it,” said Faury.
On the A320 programme, Airbus is planning to ramp up production to 75 aircraft per month in 2027, but in 2026 it will cut production from 14 to 12 per month.
Faury said that the “persisting challenges on engines” for the A320 are “showing signs of recovery”, though the industry is “not out of the woods yet” in regards to engine availability.
Meanwhile, the widebody A330 programme is “currently stabilising” at a monthly production rate of four aircraft, with the OEM maintaining its target of five per month in 2029 to “meet customer demand”. The company continues to target 12 per month for the A350 in 2028.
For the first nine months of the year, the company’s consolidated revenues climbed 7% to €47.4bn. EBIT as reported was up 25% to €3.4bn, while adjusted EBIT soared 48% to €4.1bn.
Net income climbed 46% in the first nine months of the year to €2.6bn, or €3.34 earnings per share. Free cash flow for the nine-month period was a negative €778 million.
“Our nine-month results reflect the level of commercial aircraft deliveries and a solid performance in the defence and space and helicopters businesses,” said Faury. “Deliveries remain backloaded amid a complex and dynamic operating environment.”
The company recorded net orders of 514 aircraft in the first nine months, with the order backlog totalling 8,665 commercial aircraft as of the end of September 2025.
Faury said the company is continuing to expand its industrial capacity to “support the commercial aircraft ramp-up”.
Airbus maintained its target of 820 commercial aircraft deliveries for the full year, with 507 jets delivered in the first nine months.
Faury said the volume of remaining aircraft to be delivered in the final months of the year is “the main challenge”.
“What we will have to deliver in the last month is indeed quite unprecedented,” he said. “We are not yet at the point where we will have all that we need to secure all deliveries. We are still expecting engines in the weeks to come that will support some 2025 deliveries.”
He added that it “looks like we’re going to make it” due to improved supply chain and engine availability, and he said the company will ensure that there is “no mishap or challenge ahead of us that would postpone aircraft” through year-end.
The company is targeting a full-year adjusted EBIT of around €7bn and a free cash flow, before customer financing, of approximately €4.5bn.
The company’s CFO Thomas Toepfer noted that tariffs are expected to have an impact of between €100 million and €200 million for the full-year 2025.
“The vast majority of the total amount will be recorded in the fourth quarter,” said Toepfer. He explained that this was because the materials imported into the US before new tariff policies took effect are still held in “work in progress”.
“We will only record the impact of the tariffs once the material is actually built into the aircraft and the aircraft is sold,” said Toepfer. “It is not an annualised fourth-quarter effect, but a specific impact of this year.”
As of the end of the quarter, Airbus’ net cash position was €7bn.