The increase in the production rate of the Airbus A220 – essential to the profitability of this still loss-making program – is finally starting to materialize. Shipments of the device jumped 30% last year.
In total, 68 copies of the device were delivered to customers in 2023, compared to 53 the previous year, the multinational said Thursday, providing an update on its orders and deliveries.
Boeing’s great rival turns the page on the best commercial performance in its history with a harvest of 2,094 net orders, including 142 for the former Bombardier C Series. It delivered 735 versions of its various aircraft lines, an increase of 10%.
“Several factors came together to help us achieve our objectives, including the flexibility and capacity of our industrial system,” said Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury in a press release.
Airbus aims to produce 14 A220 aircraft monthly in Mirabel, in the Laurentians, as well as in Mobile, Alabama, by 2026, where the program should in principle come out of the red. There is still a lot of work to be done.
The Quebec state owns 25% of the A220. He had put 380 million back into the program in order to push back to 2030 the moment when Airbus can buy back its stake in the A220. The longer the profits are delayed, the more the amount obtained by the State risks being reduced.
Since 2015, Quebec has injected 1.7 billion into this program developed by Bombardier.
