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\n Published on
\n 19\/02\/2026 – 16:44 GMT+1\n <\/p>\n
Airbus may have just delivered a record year, but in Washington the political winds still seem to blow in Boeing\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n
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As US President Donald Trump doubles down on domestic industry and defence spending, European aerospace executives are watching closely. <\/p>\n
For Airbus, the numbers themselves are solid, even enviable. The group delivered 793 commercial aircraft in 2025, lifted revenue by 6% to \u20ac73.4bn and posted adjusted operating profit of \u20ac7.1bn.<\/p>\n
\u201c2025 was a landmark year, characterised by very strong demand for our products and services across all businesses, a record financial performance, and strategic milestones,” chief executive Guillaume Faury said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“We successfully navigated a complex and dynamic operating environment to deliver on our updated guidance,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
Yet the celebratory mood is tempered by supply chain headaches, transatlantic politics and engine shortages, all familiar culprits.<\/p>\n
The company ended the year with net income of \u20ac5.2bn and proposed a dividend of \u20ac3.20 per share, while free cash flow before customer financing reached \u20ac4.6bn. <\/p>\n
Airbus shares were down around 6.9%, trading at \u20ac186.9 per share in afternoon trading on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The expected production pressures are amplified by Trump\u2019s push to sell Boeing planes as part of broader trade-for-diplomacy deals. <\/p>\n
The US Commerce Department said government-assisted foreign contracts jumped to $244bn (\u20ac206bn) in 2025, driven in large part by Boeing net orders rising to 1,075 from 377 a year earlier.<\/p>\n
That agenda has been showcased in headline-grabbing announcements during high-level visits \u2014 including Qatar Airways\u2019 $96bn (\u20ac81bn) widebody order unveiled during Trump\u2019s trip to the Gulf, and $30bn (\u20ac25bn) in Boeing agreements signed this week by Vietnamese carriers during a Washington visit tied to trade talks.<\/p>\n
Strong demand, stubborn bottlenecks<\/p>\n
Behind the upbeat headline figures, Airbus is still wrestling with parts shortages \u2014 especially engines for its best-selling A320 family.<\/p>\n
The company is aiming to deliver about 870 aircraft in 2026, with adjusted operating profit of around \u20ac7.5bn, assuming no major disruptions to trade or supply chains. <\/p>\n
But the engine situation remains a serious drag on production, forcing the company to adjust its ramp-up plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cGlobal demand for commercial aircraft underpins our ongoing production ramp-up, which we are managing while facing significant Pratt & Whitney engine shortages,\u201d Faury said. <\/p>\n
The Airbus chief was unusually blunt in Thursday’s statement, accusing the US supplier of failing to meet contractual obligations \u2014 strong language in an industry built on long-term partnerships.<\/p>\n
Record order book, familiar rivalry<\/p>\n
The broader picture remains one of strong demand. Airbus recorded gross orders for 1,000 aircraft in 2025, with a year-end backlog of 8,754 jets \u2014 effectively years of production already spoken for. <\/p>\n
Order intake across the group rose to \u20ac123.3bn, while the total order book stood at \u20ac619bn at the end of the year.<\/p>\n
That leaves Airbus in a strong commercial position, even as political dynamics shift. <\/p>\n
So while record profits are nice, but it does not help when the White House is rooting for your rival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on 19\/02\/2026 – 16:44 GMT+1 Airbus may have just delivered a record year, but in Washington the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[125,12495,72,969,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-307762","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-airbus","9":"tag-boeing","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}