Airbus said to deliver fewer aircraft in July amid engine woes

[NEW YORK] Airbus delivered about 63 aircraft last month, roughly 18 per cent fewer than during the same month a year ago, as a shortage of engines on its best-selling A320neo model hampered handovers to customers, sources familiar with the matter said.

The world’s biggest planemaker has delivered around 370 planes in the first seven months of 2025, less than half its annual goal. July delivery figures are preliminary and could change slightly, the sources cautioned, asking not to be identified discussing confidential data.

An Airbus spokesperson declined to comment on the July tally ahead of the official publication of figures next week.

Deliveries are closely watched by investors because that is when airline customers pay over the bulk of the money for an aircraft order.

This week, Airbus’s chief executive officer Guillaume Faury said that while the company continued to maintain its full-year guidance of around 820 handovers, supply chain issues would push out the bulk of the deliveries into the second half of the year.

By comparison, Airbus delivered 77 jets in July a year ago, taking seven-month handovers to 400 at that point.

The company had 60 so-called gliders, newly built aircraft on the ground without engines, at the end of June, a number it aims to eradicate by the end of the year, Airbus management said on an earnings call on Wednesday.

Boeing has been ramping up production of its competing 737 Max jet and has been catching up to its European rival. It was neck-and-neck with Airbus at the half-year mark, with 280 deliveries versus 306 at the European planemaker.

The US planemaker has been working to return its factories to a steadier tempo. It’s also cushioned by a surplus of inventory as a consequence of a strike in late 2024 and its decision earlier in the year to slow production to address quality shortfalls after a door-shaped panel blew out of an airborne 737 Max. BLOOMBERG