2005: Airbus continues to lead

2005 was a record year for Airbus in all terms, be it for deliveries, order intake and profitability. In terms of orders Airbus continued to outsell its competitor for the fifth consecutive year, while continuing to lead in terms of deliveries for the third year in a row. Airbus also achieved a profitability margin above its target of 10 per cent.

In 2005, Airbus delivered 378 airliners, bringing the Airbus turnover to approx. € 22.3 billion. With this, Airbus total deliveries now stand at 4,130. The 2005 deliveries comprise 289 Single Aisle Family aircraft and 89 wide-body long range airliners (essentially A330s and A340s). This reflects the steady increase in production rates to cope with the increasing demand, up from 305 in 2003 and well above the former record of 325 in 2001.

With 1,111 new gross orders, valued at USD 95.9 billion, and 1,055 net orders, Airbus maintained its lead for the fifth year in a row. These orders, which make up for 52 per cent of the market, comprise 918 Single Aisles, 166 A330s, A340s and A350s, and 20 A380s, as well as seven A300 Freighters. 2005 was therefore even stronger than 1998, Airbus’ previous record year in which it booked 556 new orders. Also, the order intake for both the Single Aisle Family and the A330/A340/A350 were the highest ever for those product series.

At the end of 2005, Airbus had a backlog of 2,177 aircraft valued at USD 220.3 billion. It is also the highest ever in its entire history and in the history of aviation. Moreover, this is higher than that of the competition for the sixth year in a row, and comprises the highest ever backlog for both the A330/A340/A350 (346 aircraft) and the A320 Family (1,652 aircraft).

“2005 was a record year for the whole industry and for Airbus in particular”, said Airbus President and CEO, Gustav Humbert, when announcing the results. “Airlines have never ever placed so many orders, a sign that they are very optimistic about the future of air transportation, with also a lot of new carriers emerging and bringing cheap air travel to an increasing number of consumers. But it also reflects the need for more modern equipment to face the rising fuel prices. We are pleased to have maintained our lead in terms of market share. But, more importantly, we continue to increase our production output, based on a backlog never seen in history, which secures work for the next four to five years at very high production rates. On behalf of all the Airbus employees, I wish to thank our customers for their confidence, and want to assure them that their “satisfaction” is our key driver. This is where we really want to become the best and be fully recognised as “the leader”.

2005 was also a landmark year in terms of programmes, with the industrial launch of the new 250 – 300 seat long range A350 on 7th October, and the first flight of the A380 on 27th April. Flight test of the all new double-decker continues to progress well, with the three aircraft now flying having achieved 800 flight hours and 220 flights. Certification is planned in time for the delivery to the first operator, Singapore Airlines, which is planned for the end of this year.

Airbus is a joint EADS company with BAE Systems.


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