Airbus Cuts 2025 Delivery Forecast Due to A320 Supplier Issues

European aerospace leader Airbus SE has scaled back its 2025 delivery forecast for commercial aircraft, citing a fresh supplier quality issue impacting its best-selling A320 Family. The company now anticipates handing over 790 jets to customers this year, down from the previously projected 820.

The Underlying Quality Challenge

In a statement released Wednesday, Airbus attributed the revised guidance to "a recent supplier quality issue on fuselage panels impacting its A320 Family delivery flow." This industrial setback disrupts the production rhythm for the single-aisle aircraft family, a critical revenue driver for the manufacturer and a backbone for airlines worldwide, including carriers in Türkiye and across its key growth markets. The financial guidance for 2025, including an EBITDA target around €7 billion, remains unchanged.

Context of Recent Operational Challenges

The delivery target cut follows another recent operational hurdle for the A320 program. Last week, Airbus mandated an urgent software update for the entire A320 Family fleet after discovering that intense solar radiation could potentially corrupt flight-control data. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) subsequently issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive, and Airbus reported completing the necessary software patches on thousands of aircraft by Monday. These sequential issues highlight the complex supply chain and technological challenges in modern aviation manufacturing.

Performance Against Previous Targets

This revision continues a trend of Airbus adjusting its delivery ambitions in the face of industrial and supply chain pressures. In 2024, the company delivered 766 commercial aircraft, falling short of its initial goal of 800 units. The latest reduction for 2025 signals ongoing difficulties in ramping up production to meet the robust demand for new fuel-efficient aircraft in the post-pandemic travel boom.