Feb 19, 2026, 3:38 p.mFeb 19, 2026, 3:38 p.m
The world’s largest aircraft manufacturer Airbus wants to hand over more jets to customers in 2026 than ever before. CEO Guillaume Faury is planning to deliver around 870 commercial aircraft, as the DAX group announced on Thursday in Toulouse.
Last year, Airbus sales rose by six percent to 73.4 billion euros.Image: AP POOL PA
This would surpass his record of 863 jets from 2019. He hadn’t come close to achieving this again since the Corona crisis.
However, Airbus continues to struggle with slow engine deliveries from US manufacturer Pratt & Whitney. The production plans for the most popular A320neo model family are therefore being postponed even further into the future. Airbus boss Guillaume Faury explicitly blamed the engine manufacturer for the further delay.
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury.Image: keystone
In recent years, Airbus has missed its delivery targets several times due to a shortage of engines and other components. In 2025, the engine manufacturers were able to catch up with their backlog from the first half of the year, but a supplier of fuselage parts made a mistake: Due to quality defects in certain panels, Airbus had to inspect hundreds of practically finished jets from November onwards. Instead of the previously targeted 820 aircraft, Airbus only delivered 793 units.
Orders last for ten years
Airbus is not lacking in orders – on the contrary: at the end of December, the group had a record order backlog of 8,754 passenger and freight aircraft. Measured against the deliveries planned for 2026, the orders would mathematically fill production for ten years. Production of the A320neo family has long been fully booked into the next decade.
An A320neo.Image: EPA/EPA
Airlines therefore have to order new aircraft well in advance. Airbus’ only major competitor, Boeing from the USA, has been in crisis for years and has now fallen far behind the European manufacturer. Nevertheless, he also has a huge order backlog and can hardly keep up with demand.
Profit increases by a quarter
Last year, Airbus sales rose by six percent to 73.4 billion euros. Adjusted operating profit jumped by a third to just over 7.1 billion, and the bottom line was a surplus of around 5.2 billion euros, almost a quarter more than in the previous year. In the current year, Airbus management expects profits before interest, taxes and special items (adjusted EBIT) to increase to around 7.5 billion euros. Industry experts had an average of more than 8 billion on their list.
There was growth not only in the main business with passenger aircraft. The helicopter division also increased its sales and adjusted operating profit. The defense and space division made it back into the profit zone after high special costs for satellite programs and the A400M military transporter pushed the division deep into the red last year.
Boeing in trouble
Competitor Boeing, meanwhile, achieved its first annual profit since 2018 in 2025 – and even this was only thanks to the sale of one division. The US company has had to struggle with quality deficiencies in many areas since two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 and a lengthy grounding of its most important model, the 737 Max, and has had to face accusations of having skimped on safety. After a near-miss in early 2024, the authorities took action and imposed tough restrictions on Boeing. (sda/awp/dpa)