The European planemaker Airbus and the French engine-maker Safran have confirmed today they have reached a deal on 2024 engine supplies for 2024, which could be a sign of the ramp-up in production rates of the A320 jets.
Whilst no concrete numbers were given to the press at a briefing, Chief Executive Olivier Andries did say that it was equivalent to levels in mind before the crisis.
Airbus had previously advised it wanted to press ahead with plans to raise monthly output to 70 in the first quarter of 2024 and maybe as high as 75 a month during 2025. Currently, it is producing around 50 aircraft a month, which is set to rise to around 61 by the end of the year.
"We have an agreement with Airbus for quantities in 2024," Andries said, "It corresponds to the quantity that we had committed to before the crisis and given (this), we were naturally able to reach agreement on a quantity to supply in 2024,"
On wider issues, Andries told how the Russian invasion and subsequent war in Ukraine has affected the company, "2022 has started off well with Q1 organic growth at 17%, in line with our full-year guidance in a difficult context of significant air traffic volatility in China, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, supply chain tensions and inflationary pressure.
We are taking vigorous steps to offset fully the margin impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and inflation, notably additional savings in all Group entities and strict control in the phasing of expenses.
Commercial momentum is still building up with meaningful contracts booked since the beginning of the year."
Prior to sanctions being imposed, Safran's commercial activity in Russia featured engine and equipment supplies for a number of aircraft programmes, including Sukhoi Superjet 100, MC-21 and Kamov 62 & Kamov 226 helicopters. It also carried out service activities for CFM engines powering approximately 500 Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 aircraft operated by Russian airlines.
Q1 output:
Want me in your inbox? Follow here for email updates Air101 here.
