Airbus sees supply chain stability, targets 75 A320s per month by 2027: CCO

Airbus aims to boost A320 family aircraft production rate to 75 per month by 2027 as supply chain stabilises, says Chief Commercial Officer Benoît de Saint-Exupery

The aircraft manufacturing supply chain is beginning to show the first signs of stability, and Airbus is confident of ramping up production of its A320 family aircraft to around 75 per month by 2027, up from the current rate in the 60s, its Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Benoît de Saint-Exupéry told Business Standard in an interview on Tuesday.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic had severely disrupted global aircraft manufacturing supply chains, causing major production slowdowns at both Airbus and Boeing. The impact continues to ripple across the aviation sector.

 

Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson had in March expressed frustration over these persistent issues, noting that aircraft supply is likely to remain constrained for the next four to five years due to ongoing supply chain challenges faced by the two major aircraft manufacturers. “There’s not much airlines can do beyond optimising their network expansion plans,” he had said.

 

Currently, Air India and IndiGo — India’s two largest carriers — are among Airbus’ top three customers by order backlog. The European plane maker is scheduled to deliver 916 aircraft to IndiGo and 344 to Air India in the coming years, including both widebody models like the A350 and narrowbody jets from the A320 family.

 

When asked about Air India CEO’s statement on delays in aircraft deliveries and the optimum delivery rate Airbus wants to achieve, he replied: “We have a plan that goes to producing 75 A320 family aircraft by 2027, and we stick to that plan. That’s where we want to go. We want to go there because we have the orders. It’s not just aspirational. It’s because we need to when it comes to the stability of our setup.”

 

“Yes, the industry is late (in aircraft deliveries) by and large. It’s not a secret. It’s not new. It is not something that we started hearing during the last few days or weeks,” the Airbus CCO told the newspaper on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

 

“I’m happy to say that there are first signs of stability showing up, but you never quite can rest on that, because situations can change quite quickly nowadays. But I think we’re starting to see the first sign of stability in the supply chain, by and large, and that’s encouraging when it comes to sticking to our plan and getting to the level of 75 A320 family planes per month,” the CCO added. 

 

The company’s current A320 family aircraft production rate is somewhere in the 60s, which is similar to the rate it was at before the COVID-induced supply chain disruption, he mentioned.

 

When asked if Airbus has developed any plans to establish a commercial aircraft manufacturing facility, also called a commercial final assembly line (FAL), in India, he replied: “We have stated several times what we thought about this topic. We think we have much more value to add to the Indian ecosystem than a FAL for aircraft. And by the way, we do assembly lines on other products, but on the aircraft side, we’re looking at expanding our footprint (via sourcing services and components) from industry here in India, and we think that has much more value. So it doesn’t really change our position on establishing commercial aircraft FAL, because we think the real value is somewhere else.”

 

Airbus, in collaboration with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), is setting up two major final assembly lines (FALs) in India: one in Vadodara, Gujarat, for the C295 military transport aircraft, and another in Kolar, Karnataka, for the H125 civil helicopter. While the Vadodara facility, inaugurated in 2024, will assemble 40 C295 aircraft for the Indian Air Force with the first rollout expected by September 2026, the Kolar plant will be India’s first privately led helicopter manufacturing unit and will focus on producing H125 helicopters for both domestic use and export.

 

“In the last four or five years, we have basically tripled our footprint and our sourcing in India. I think today, we are spending close to $1.5 billion sourcing with the Indian ecosystem, where we were, you know, three times less about five to six years ago. So, that shows you exactly what our strategy is with India,” he noted. In 2020, Airbus sourced services and components worth $500 million from India. This number increased to $1 billion in 2023 and $1.4 billion in 2024.

 

When asked about the effect of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Airbus, he stated that they have introduced uncertainties and disruption.

 

“They’re having an effect in the sense that they are creating uncertainties and disruption. It’s too soon to say whether they’ll have an effect in the long run. I mean, right now, we all know that there is a 10 per cent tariff, so yes, they have an effect on everyone, right? But going forward, we have to wait and see what will be the baseline after trade discussions have taken place between the various blocs, and we will see,” he added.