In 2005, Airbus delivered 378 aircraft, more than its competitor for the third year in a row. These deliveries include 289 A320 Family aircraft, and 89 wide-body long-range aircraft, essentially A330s and A340s.
Airbus achieved a turnover of about 22.3 billion euros, its highest ever and about 12 per cent higher than last year.
Airbus' orders also reached a new record level with 1,111 firm gross orders valued at some US$ 95.9 billion at catalogue prices, and net orders standing at 1,055. "This figure is both the best ever in our 35 year history and in the overall history of aviation," said Gustav Humbert. The best previous year for Airbus was 1998, with 556 new firm orders.
In addition, Airbus had a record backlog of 2,177 aircraft at the end of 2005, valued at US $ 220.3 billion, which ensures work for the next four to five years at record production rates.
"As a result of this success, we will continue to increase our production rates to reach eight long-range and 30 single-aisle aircraft per month this year and 32 single aisle per month in 2007," said Gustav Humbert.
Airbus also achieved profitability above 10 per cent. The Route 06 programme largely contributed to this performance, with cost savings reaching 1.5 billion euros.
In terms of programmes, the success of the A320 Family was confirmed again with 918 orders in 2005, while the A380 gained 20 new orders. But the highlight of last year was the first flight of the A380 in April. Since then, three test aircraft have accumulated some 800 flight hours in 220 flights.