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Airbus President and CEO Fabrice Brégier and other top Airbus executives reviewed the company’s 2012 highlights and commercial activity, as well as detailed the company’s strategies and prospects for 2013, during a traditional year-opening media event held in Toulouse, France today.
Scroll below for the video. It is 1h21m in length.
Synopsis
Airbus delivered a company record of 588 aircraft to 89 customers, 17 new, and exceeded its order target of 650 by winning 914 gross orders. These orders include 305 A320 family CEO (classic engine), 478 NEO (new engine option), 82 A330/A340s, 40 A350XWB and nine A380s. Airbus’ backlog is now at 4,682 aircraft valued at over US$638 billion.
Deliveries were 10 per cent higher than the 2011 record (534) and 2012 was the 11th year in a row of increased production. In single aisles, Airbus made 455 deliveries, up from 421 in 2011. Widebody deliveries reached a record 103 aircraft (87 in 2011), underlining the success of the A330 Family which is being produced at the highest monthly production rates ever, 9.5 in 2012 which will rise to 10 in early 2013. The A380 delivery target of 30 was achieved up from 26 in 2011.
Airbus’ share of total aircraft sales by value (above 100 seats) in 2012, is 41 per cent gross (41.5 per cent net). Net orders reached 833 aircraft worth US$96 billion. These include 739 A320 Family aircraft taking Airbus past the 9,000th single aisle order. Of these, 478 are NEO, confirming its over 62 per cent market dominance since launch. In the widebody market, 58 A330s and 27 A350 XWB were ordered. The A350-1000 won significant upsizing orders. In the very large aircraft segment, Airbus won nine out of 10 orders.
In 2012, the A350 XWB progressed well. The final assembly line became fully operational, the structural assembly of the first A350 XWB that will fly was completed and “electrical power on” of the aircraft was accomplished.
Airbus Military had a successful year delivering 29 aircraft (20 light and medium military transport, four P-3 conversions, and five A330 MRTTs). The order target was exceeded despite difficult global conditions, reaching 32 (28 C295 and four CN235). Additionally, the A330 MRTT was selected as the preferred bidder by the Indian Government.
The A400M progressed well with the completion of 300 hours of Function and Reliability testing leading towards civil and military certification in Q1 2013 and first delivery in Q2 2013, with a total of four deliveries by the end of the year. Currently four A400Ms are in final assembly with a further 13 in production. The military backlog stands at 220 aircraft (174 A400M, 17 MRTT, five CN235, and 20 C295 and four P-3).
Airbus recruited 5,000 employees in 2012 increasing the global employee figure to 59,000 and targets recruiting some 3,000 in 2013 to support all programme developments.
