Airbus reduces A350 production
Airbus said on Thursday it was further cutting production of its marquee A350 jet on Thursday as it swung to a larger-than-expected second-quarter loss in the face of global pandemic.
The planemaker also said it hoped to avoid consuming cash before M&A and customer financing in the second half of the year after a quarterly outflow of 4.4 billion euros as deliveries tumbled due to the coronavirus collapse in air travel.
Airbus posted an adjusted second-quarter operating loss of 1.226 billion euros($1.44 billion) as revenues slid 55% to 8.317 billion. Analysts were expecting a loss of 1.027 billion on revenues of 8.552 billion, according to a company-compiled consensus.
The losses include 900 million euros of balance sheet impairment charges related to the industry’s worst crisis.
Airbus said it had cut A350 production to five jets a month, after bringing the monthly rate down from 9.5 to six in April. The move came a day after US rival Boeing said it was making further cuts in output of its 787 and 777 jets, which compete with the A350 on long-haul networks.
Airlines were already facing a glut of the industry’s biggest jets before the COVID-19 crisis and those models are expected to be the slowest to recover once demand returns to normal levels, which Airbus says could take until 2023 or 2025.
