AIRBUS NEARS 550 DELIVERIES DESPITE YEAR OF LOSSES

Airbus has handed over close to 550 aircraft in 2020, with three days left to pad its total in a year derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to people familiar with the matter.

The European planemaker is nearing the milestone after tallying 477 deliveries through November, the people said, asking not to be named citing confidential information. The figures are unaudited and will be finalized after the end of the year.

Airbus remains comfortably ahead of Boeing, though neither is anywhere near where it expected to be when the year started. The Toulouse, Francebased planemaker delivered a record 863 planes last year, before the health crisis crushed the balance sheets of airline and leasingfirm customers. Manufacturers have been scrambling since then to preserve orders and shuff le delivery schedules.

In a sustained push to increase handovers in recent months, Airbus has used incentives such as an e-delivery option that allows customers to delegate some essential checks to the manufacturer that are made harder by travel restrictions.

The planemaker abandoned its annual forecast for 880 deliveries back in March, as the coronavirus began to wreak havoc on the plans of airlines.

Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath declined to comment on the figures, saying that the company would issue a final total once they were audited.

Airbus is set to retain its title of world’s largest planemaker for a second year. Still, 550 deliveries would represent a drop of about 36 percent from 2019.