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Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury.
BERLIN—Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said June 9 that engineers and executives should focus on delivering the aircraft in the airframer's backlog to customers, as opposed to coming up with ideas for new airliners.
Airbus has been struggling to ramp up production and hand over aircraft to airlines and lessors on time.
While the airframer has been working on a stretched version of the A220, the A220-500, Faury said during the company’s first-quarter earnings presentation that a launch decision is not imminent. In May, the proposed aircraft received a boost, as AirAsia committed to ordering another 150 A220s if Airbus launches the program.
The ideas Faury wants to hear about should pertain to his priorities only. “[Some] teams are very creative, and this is great in normal times, they tend to look at opportunities,” Faury said, speaking at the Berlin Aviation Summit. “We need to focus on priorities. I share this message with my suppliers: A good idea that is not focused on our priorities is a bad idea ... Customers want to receive their planes as specified, on quality, on time.”
While not specifically mentioning the A220-500, he alluded to Airbus' range of airliners. “We always have opportunities to look at new products, new solutions and, actually, increasing diversity—already good—at this very moment is not necessarily what we need,” he said. In his comments, Faury referred to a letter to Airbus employees sent June 9.
After a slow first quarter in deliveries, a strong May strengthened Faury's ambition for the full year. “We believe in our objective,” he said, citing the goal of delivering 870 aircraft this year. “We have again a backloaded year, which is a situation we do not like but is happening quite often at Airbus.”
In 2026, the company will embark with its partners in a “Swiss clock” approach to execute the plan, said Lars Wagner, Airbus Commercial Aircraft CEO. The attitude is about precision, he said—like a multitude of gears locking together within a clock—and quality. “I reach out to my internal teams to make a step change,” he said.
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