Airbus delivered about 30 jets in first-half December

Airbus has delivered around 30 aircraft in the first half of December, releasing jets at a below-average speed for the month as some airlines wait for details of fixes to a recent fuselage problem, industry sources and analysts said on Monday.

That leaves more than 100 to deliver in the second half of the month to reach a revised 2025 target of around 790 jets after Airbus delivered 657 jets between January and November.

“If they are to deliver another 104 aircraft to achieve the restated guidance of around 790, that seems like a very steep challenge at this point in the month,” said analyst Rob Morris, noting that Cirium data showed 29 deliveries as of last Friday.

Airbus, which has often shown a pattern of surging output in the final days of the year, declined comment on mid-month data.

Airbus this month cut its full-year delivery target by 4% to around 790 jets from around 820 after what CEO Guillaume Faury described as “weak” November deliveries following the discovery of a quality problem with some A320-family fuselage panels.

Industry sources said several airlines had been reluctant to take delivery before receiving further technical details of inspections that will need to be carried out on up to 628 planes either in-production or already in the fleet.

Some carriers have pressed for compensation and improved warranty terms for the disruption, which comes on the heels of a recall over a software problem, they said.

Airbus declined comment on any commercial discussions.

The company has said that the panel defect does not affect the safety of flight, whereas the emergency software recall was to address a safety vulnerability to cosmic radiation exposed by a mid-air loss of altitude on a JetBlue flight in October.

Airbus remains ahead of Boeing on deliveries, which help determine revenue, but last week conceded that it was likely to lose the order race for the first time in six years.