Airbus predicts flat deliveries in 2021 as aerospace giant records €1.1bn loss

Aerospace giant Airbus forecast that it would deliver the same amount of planes in 2021 as last year as it fell to a €1.1bn loss.

As a result of the pandemic, the French firm handed over just 566 aircraft to customers – 40 per cent lower than its peak.

With the pandemic forcing airlines around the world to ground vast swathes of their fleets, many elected to cancel or put off new plane deliveries last year.

And with the forecasts for aviation not showing a return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024, the delivery drought could continue this year.

In addition, Airbus said that it would axe its dividend for the second year in a row. Shares fell over 3.0 per cent this morning.

For 2021, the engineer predicted operating profit of €2bn, and said that it would breakeven in terms of cash flow.

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But in a sign of the strain on airline finances, Airbus sliced €100bn – 20 per cent off the value of its unfilled order book to €373bn.

While the coronavirus crisis has raised doubts over the ability of airlines to honor contracts, Airbus said the decrease also reflected an unusually low set of new orders during the crisis and a weakening of the U.S. dollar.

Airbus posted a 2020 operating loss of €510m euos, weighed by charges booked in previous quarters, notably for restructuring and the closure of the loss-making A380 program.

On a widely watched adjusted basis, Airbus stayed in the black but saw operating profit drop 75 per cent to €1.7bn.

For the year as a whole, Airbus said it spent €6.9bn, as the impact of the coronavirus crisis came hard on the heels of a record €3.6bn bribery fine agreed in early 2020. Airbus said it expected free-cashflow breakeven in 2021.