Airbus Cuts Production Rates

Airbus announced on Wednesday that it is reducing average production rates for the A320, A330 and A350 by approximately one-third due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Monthly A320 production will drop to an average of 40 units. A330s will be produced at a rate of two per month and A350s at six per month.

“We are in constant dialogue with our customers and supply chain partners as we are all going through these difficult times together,” said Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury. “Our airline customers are heavily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. We are actively adapting our production to their new situation and working on operational and financial mitigation measures to face reality.”

Airbus also announced that it booked 290 net commercial aircraft orders and delivered 122 aircraft in the first quarter (Q1) of 2020. The company made 36 deliveries in March 2020, down from 55 in February. As previously reported by AVweb, Airbus recently extended pandemic-related production halts in Germany and the U.S. into the last week of April.