Airbus Reportedly Planning to Increase A320 Production

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus is reportedly planning to ramp up the production of its A320 family of aircraft to surpass the monthly number of planes it manufactured in 2019. Airbus previously had plans to increase production from 60 to 63 planes per month by 2021.

This has of course recently been scaled back due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the effect it has had on the global aviation industry. Like Boeing and other aircraft manufacturers, Airbus had to suddenly adapt to a world where fewer people were flying as airlines struggled to survive. With orders drying up and airlines deferring deliveries, Airbus cut its production rate from 60 aircraft per month to 40 in April 2020.

When the situation had not improved by June, Airbus Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Guillaume Faury said he did not think that 2019 levels would be seen again before 2025. Despite the severe impact that the coronavirus was having on aviation, Airbus still managed to deliver 556 aircraft in 2020.

With a COVID-19 vaccine starting to be rolled out, French weekly financial newspaper La Tribune reported that Airbus is looking to build as many as 47 A320 family aircraft by the summer. The increase in production rates would steadily move up, reaching 51 planes a month by January 2022, 57 by July, and 61 a month by January 2023.