# Airbus lowers delivery targets after aircraft issues

By Aarin Chiekrie — 2025-12-03

Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “It’s been a turbulent few days of news flow for Airbus, which has finally caused the group to lower its full-year aircraft delivery guidance by 30 to around 790 planes.

“The downgrade is a result of recent quality issues of a supplier which produces fuselage panels for its A320 family of planes.

“The problem is contained in a recent batch of panels from a single supplier and Airbus has frozen deliveries from this supplier while it checks the recent panels.

“Inspection is quick to implement, and most panels haven’t required any modification so far. For those that do need modifications, a fix is easy enough to make.

“But time is not on the group’s side, and full-year aircraft delivery guidance was lowered as a result.

“While today’s downgrade is disappointing, it’s not the end of the world. Supplier issues like these are part and parcel of the intricate aircraft industry.

“To be clear, these planes will still be delivered, but the delivery date is likely to be pushed into the first quarter of 2026 – a historically weak period for deliveries.

“More importantly, full-year financial guidance has been maintained, with the group expecting to land underlying operating profits of around €7 billion.

“With a shortfall in aircraft deliveries likely to weigh on performance, the defence & space side of the business sounds like it may be picking up some of the slack.”

Canonical: https://experts.pressassociation.com/expert/38/views/201f9c1fe9779d59