by Tim Hepher

PARIS (Reuters) – Airbus has seen a marked improvement in the confidence and performance of its suppliers, all of whom are ready to support the group’s goal of increasing deliveries by 7% to some 820 aircraft this year, a senior executive at the European manufacturer said on Monday.

Airbus is also on track to meet a longer-term goal of increasing underlying production of narrow-body aircraft to 75 per month in 2027, Florent Massou dit Labaquère, executive vice president for operations (COO), told reporters.

The world’s largest plane maker is preparing to break ground on a second U.S. assembly line for A320neo family jets in Mobile, Alabama, later Monday. Airbus is also planning a similar expansion in China in the coming weeks.

The expanded network of 10 assembly lines will be sufficient to meet production targets, despite a shift in demand towards the larger A321neo, which requires more time to build, Florent Massou said Labaquère said.

In 2021, Airbus drew up plans to almost double production of narrow-body aircraft from 40 to 75 per month by 2025. While the target was maintained, the date was gradually pushed back by two years due to bottlenecks and delays across the industry.

Industry sources say Airbus has struggled to persuade some suppliers to increase investment on projects that may not come to fruition, as targets have been repeatedly pushed back.

Suppliers are now more optimistic, the COO said.

“I’ve seen a completely different picture with a lot of suppliers who understand where we are, who are testament to the stability we’ve had in terms of planning over the last few months,” he said.

Florent Massou known as Labaquère also indicated that Airbus intended to complete the takeover of several Spirit AeroSystems sites, as part of the latter’s acquisition by Boeing, by the end of the year. “The transaction is progressing, we expect to conclude it in the fourth quarter,” he told reporters.

The comments on production echo those of a Boeing official who last week told a conference that supply chains had stabilized.

“The fact that we met and exceeded our plan this year gives our suppliers the confidence they need to invest in their own businesses,” said Darren Hulst, vice president of marketing at the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT).

Suppliers say Airbus is currently producing 63 planes a month, partly by absorbing inventories. “Nervousness will be linked to what happens towards the end of the year,” said one leading supplier.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; by Etienne Breban, editing by Kate Entringer)

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