Airbus has reported its highest number of monthly deliveries of passenger planes for 2020 in September, however still struggles to achieve new sales as the COVID-19 crisis continues to decimate the industry.
Airbus delivered a total of 57 jets in September, up from 39 in August and 49 in July.
This brings its total number of jet deliveries in 2020 to 341, down 40 per cent on the same period in 2019.
Included in this year’s total deliveries are 18 A220s, 282 aircraft in the A320 family, nine A330s and 32 A350s, according to Airbus data.
While the European planemaker publicly axed its delivery figure guidance at the beginning of the crisis, sources close to the company suggest that internally, Airbus is aiming to deliver a total of 500 commercial jets this year, and is already three-quarters of the way to achieving this goal.
This comes after Airbus delivered a record high number of jets in 2019 at 863.
However, the planemaker received no new commercial aircraft orders in September.
So far this year, Airbus has sold 379 aircraft, however the net total sales falls to 300 after accounting for order cancellations.
Despite the difficulties presented by the COVID-19 crisis, Airbus has managed to stay far ahead of its US rival Boeing, which has sold 67 commercial aircraft so far in 2020 (to the end of August), and delivered 87 jets in the same time frame.
Boeing also has reported a negative net total of 378 orders in 2020, as airlines rush to cancel orders both in light of the aviation crisis, and in response to two fatal crashes caused by Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, which has seen the plane grounded worldwide for 18 months.
Boeing is working with international regulators to return the MAX to commercial service, with sources suggesting the aircraft could be formally recertified in the US and Europe in November.
