Airbus has had a stellar year delivering 735 commercial aircraft to 87 customers worldwide in 2023, while registering 2,319 gross new orders (2,094 net).
As a result, its 2023 year-end backlog stood at a staggering 8,598 aircraft.
In perspective, the Airbus backlog is greater than all the commercial aircraft built by the famous Douglas Aircraft from 1932 to 1997. Douglas built 192 DC-2, 607 DC-3s, 80 DC-4s, 704 DC-6s, 338 DC-7s, 556 DC-8s, 976 DC-9s 1191 MD80, 116 MD90s, 156, MD95s, 446 DC-10s and just 200 MD11s for a total of 5562.
Douglas built over 10,000 DC-3s for the military and over 1000 DC-4s for military use.
The Airbus backlog is also greater than all the dozens of commercial aircraft types produced by a range of European and UK manufacturers since the 1920s.
“2023 was a landmark year for Airbus’ Commercial Aircraft business with exceptional sales and deliveries on the upper end of our target,” said Guillaume Faury, Airbus CEO.
“A number of factors came together to help us achieve our goals, including the increased flexibility and capability of our global industrial system, as well as the strong demand from airlines to refresh their fleets with our most modern and fuel-efficient aircraft.” Guillaume added: “This is a remarkable achievement. My thanks go to our customers, supplier partners and all the Airbus teams who made it happen.”
“We originally anticipated aviation to recover sometime in the 2023-2025 timeframe, but what we saw in 2023 was, alongside the single-aisle market, widebody return much sooner than expected, and with vigour“, said Christian Scherer, Airbus’ newly appointed CEO, Commercial Aircraft.
“A big thumbs up to our commercial and regional teams, and importantly, a big thank you to our customers for their trust and partnership. We have never sold as many A320s or A350s in any given year, not to mention welcoming seven new customers for the A350-1000. Travel is back and there is serious momentum!” Christian added: “I’m proud to say there are now 735 more fuel-efficient Airbus jets flying today, paving the way to our lower carbon future. It’s the orders we win today that will support us in investing in innovative and even more sustainable solutions tomorrow.”
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