Growth and Challenges – Aviation News Transponder 1200

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Airbus Announces First Half 2024 Financial Results.

Summary

• Airbus recorded 327 gross orders and delivered 323 commercial aircraft in the first half of 2024.
• Consolidated revenue of €28.8 billion with adjusted EBIT down to €1.4 billion.
• 233 net helicopter orders and an order value of €6.1 billion in the Defence and Space sector.
• Airbus maintains its 2024 guidance, targeting delivery of 770 commercial aircraft and free cash flow before customer financing of €3.5 billion.

Growth and Challenges in the First Semester

Airbus has presented its consolidated financial results for the first half of 2024, showing both significant progress and strategic challenges in a complex market environment.

Airbus Commercial Performance

In the first half of 2024, Airbus recorded gross orders for 327 commercial aircraft, with net orders of 310 after cancellations. The order book remained robust with a total of 8,585 commercial aircraft at the end of June 2024. The company managed to deliver 323 commercial aircraft, a slight increase compared to the 316 delivered in the same period of 2023. These deliveries included 28 units of the A220261 of the Family A32013 of the A330 and 21 of the A350.

Financial Results and Challenges

Airbus consolidated revenues amounted to €28.8 billion, representing an increase of 4% year-on-year. However, Adjusted EBIT decreased significantly to €1.4 billion from €2.618 billion in the first half of 2023. This decrease is mainly due to charges recorded in the Space Systems business, which amounted to €989 million.

Adjusted EBIT from commercial aircraft activities also decreased to €1,954 million, influenced by additional investments to prepare for the future. In terms of cash flow, free cash flow before customer financing was negative at €529 million, due to changes in working capital and inventory build-up to support the production ramp-up plan.

Helicopter Performance and Defense

Airbus Helicopters reported 233 net orders, including 38 H225s for the German Federal Policedelivering 124 units, down from the 145 units delivered in the first half of 2023. Despite the drop in deliveries, revenues remained stable thanks to strong performance in services.

In the Defence and Space sector, Airbus recorded an order value of €6.1 billion, with revenues up 7% mainly driven by the Air Power business. However, this division faced significant challenges, especially in Space Systems, which incurred charges of €989 million.

Perspectives and Strategic Development

Looking ahead, Airbus maintains its guidance for 2024, expecting to deliver around 770 commercial aircraft, achieve adjusted EBIT of approximately €5.5 billion and free cash flow before customer financing of around €3.5 billion. The company remains focused on increasing production of its aircraft programmes, with ambitious targets for the coming years.

• By: Roberto Mtz Armendáriz

  Freelance journalist with more than 10 years of experience in the media. He has participated in several radio broadcasting projects as a newscaster on FM (Grupo Radiorama) and has been Head of Information for several Mexican newspapers. He is also a Private Pilot and Aircraft Operations Officer.

  Mexico City.