Demand soars at aerospace giant Airbus

By Peter Davison

31 July 2023

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Airbus Wing Technology Development Centre

Aerospace giant Airbus, which employs 2,700 people at Filton, near Bristol, has posted higher-than-expected underlying operating profit for the second quarter.

The world's largest plane-maker said earnings before tax rose 34 per cent to €1.8 billion as revenues grew by 24 per cent to nearly €16 billion, buoyed by higher jet deliveries.

The firm delivered 316 commercial aircraft during the period. The company is targeting the delivery of 720 commercial aircraft this year.

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said: "During the first half of 2023 we progressed well across our businesses in an operational environment that remains complex.

"Our commercial aircraft are in strong demand, as demonstrated by more than 800 orders announced at the Paris Air Show.

"This demand is driven both by growth and fleet replacement as airlines invest in more fuel efficient fleets.”

Filton is home to Airbus' Aerospace Integrated Research and Test Centre, which opened in 2021. Wings, fuels systems and landing gears are developed and tested there.

Half of the world’s air passengers fly on Airbus wings designed at Filton.

By Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts.

Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.