Airbus's July Delivery Lull Does Little to Dent a Half-Year Lead Over Boeing

Airbus delivered 67 jets in July, down from June, but orders hit 204 with strong demand. H1 net orders double Boeing's, reaffirming 2025 target.

The European planemaker handed over 67 jets to 39 customers in July, a step back from the 89 aircraft delivered in June and the 81 in May, though the figure matches April's tally exactly. That brings the year-to-date total to 418 aircraft, up from 373 at the same point in 2025. Management reaffirmed its full-year target of roughly 870 deliveries, a figure that, as chief executive Guillaume Faury clarified during the half-year earnings call in late July, encompasses a range of 850 to 890 jets — the same convention that saw last year's revised "around 790" goal land at 793 actual handovers.

The delivery cadence may have softened, but the order book tells a different story. July brought 204 gross orders, many of them trailing effects from the Farnborough Airshow. SMBC Aviation Capital accounted for 100 A320neo-family jets, Riyadh Air added six A350-1000s, China Eastern ordered 25 A330-900s, and an undisclosed customer committed to six A321neos. The order intake also included flynas expanding its A330-900 fleet and BermudAir placing its first-ever Airbus order for ten A220-300s. On the delivery side, IndiGo took seven A320neos, China Southern Airlines received four aircraft — one via a leasing structure with BoCom — while Emirates collected three A350-900s and American Airlines took three A321neos.

The competitive gap with Boeing is now starkly visible in the half-year numbers. Airbus booked 821 net orders in the first six months against Boeing's 408, translating to a 12.6 billion US dollar advantage in order value.

That commercial momentum rests on a solid operational first half. Airbus delivered 351 commercial aircraft in the first six months — 44 A220s, 271 from the A320 family, 10 A330s and 26 A350s — a 15 percent improvement on the 306 jets handed over a year earlier. Revenue climbed 12 percent to 33.176 billion euros, adjusted EBIT rose 24 percent to 2.727 billion euros, and reported EBIT jumped 70 percent to 2.745 billion euros. Higher delivery volumes drove the gains, with an assist from the defence and space division.

The shares have tracked that operational strength. The stock closed Friday at 214.05 euros, up 5.42 percent over the past seven trading sessions, leaving it just 3.25 percent shy of its 52-week high of 221.25 euros set on 13 January. Berenberg lifted its price target from 205 to 210 euros around a week ago following the half-year presentation, though it maintained a "Hold" rating and trimmed long-term earnings-per-share estimates. The analysts acknowledged the earnings and cash flow beat but pointed to rising research spending and personnel costs as headwinds for the second half.

Not everything is running to schedule. The A350F freighter has slipped: the first test aircraft completed ground vibration testing in Toulouse in early August — the tests themselves ran over three days in June — and flutter tests are next, during which the jet will be pushed to its maximum dive speed and Mach number over the first three months of flight testing. The first flight remains slated for this year, but entry into service has moved from 2026 to 2027. Faury said certification and first delivery would ideally follow by the end of 2027, with meaningful volumes only arriving in 2028. Two A350F test aircraft are under construction, set to join the campaign in 2026 and 2027. Separately, Airbus announced at Farnborough a three-year flight test campaign using an A321neo demonstrator to test folding wingtips for future aircraft under its "Wing of Tomorrow" programme.

The Pratt & Whitney engine supply situation remains a persistent constraint. Faury said Airbus currently has no aircraft sitting idle waiting solely for engines, but equally holds no buffer of Pratt & Whitney powerplants. The supplier's previously reduced delivery volumes continue to shape production ramp-up plans for 2026 and 2027, and discussions over the commercial consequences of those cuts are still ongoing.