February 17, 2022

Airbus published its 2021 accounts on February 17, 2022: what are they and what does the future hold?

In 2021, Airbus revenues compared to 2020 increased by 4% to 52.1 billion euros

The European aircraft manufacturer has announced a net profit of 4.2 billion euros in 2021, following an increase in commercial aircraft deliveries (611 commercial aircraft, i.e. +8% compared with 2020) after the sharp reduction caused by the COVID19 crisis. Restructuring and cost reduction efforts also contributed to this result.

Operating profit includes positive adjustments totaling 477 million euros from the end of the A380 program and a reversal of provisions linked to the restructuring plan. On the other hand, the A400M military transport aircraft program generated additional costs of 212 million euros.

Airbus has delivered 611 commercial aircraft in 2021 and expects a sharp increase to 720 aircraft delivered in 2022

With these good results, the share price has remained fairly stable and Airbus is returning to a small dividend of 1.5 euros per share.

After having reduced its workforce during the crisis, Airbus has started recruiting again in 2022 – like the entire aeronautics industry – to be able to cope with the increase in production rates. Airbus, which laid off 10,000 employees during the Covid crisis, employed 126,000 people at the end of 2021. It now plans to recruit about 6,000 in 2022. According to Airbus, the traffic would return to the level before Covid by 2023 or 2025.

Orders

The beginning of the year has been difficult for Airbus, which booked 36 orders in January: 22 A220s for Azora Aviation, as well as 6 A320neo and 8 A321neo from two airlines. However, 52 aircraft, including 50 A320neo aircraft for Qatar Airways, have been cancelled due to the dispute between the two companies over the paintwork on some A350s. At the end of January 2022, Airbus therefore had a negative order balance of -16, given that the order book contains more than 7,000 aircraft.

It should be noted that for February 2022 and the Singapore Airshow, Airbus recently launched a cargo version of its A350, called the A350F, and this has received its first orders: Singapore Airlines signed a firm order for 7 A350Fs on Wednesday 16 February 2022, announced in December 2021, and Etihad Airways signed a letter of intent for 7 A350Fs.

Boeing has 77 orders as of January 2022, with only two cancellations (2 B737 MAX for Aviation Capital Group). That is a net balance of 75 aircraft. The 737 MAX, which has long been held up by certification authorities, is recovering with 23 aircraft ordered by American Airlines, 12 by Southwest and 20 others by an unnamed company. In addition, a total of 22 aircraft were ordered for cargo: 14 B777-8s for Qatar Airways, two more B777s for Qatar, four B777s for China Airlines and two B777s for an unnamed airline. Boeing’s order backlog at the end of January stood at 4,316 aircraft, including 3,441 B737s.

For these two companies, whose sales rely heavily on aircraft designed 10, 20 or 30 years ago, the short term seems assured, but their medium-term future will depend on how they resolve the constraints of “zero emission” flight, position themselves in the market for new air mobility – electric aircraft with vertical take-off and landing – where there are more than 200 significant projects underway worldwide, and take into account Chinese competition, which could put an end to the Airbus-Boeing duopoly. Nadia Didelot for AeroMorning