Multinational European planemaker Airbus disclosed its full-year financial results for 2022 this morning, with the figures showing that last year was a strong one. Despite not quite hitting its planned delivery target, the manufacturer still had lots to be cheerful about, with increases seen across most of its financial metrics.

The key figures

With 2022 marking a year of recovery across much of the aviation industry, Airbus cashed in with a 13% increase in revenues across the year as a whole. These rose from €52.149 billion ($55.838 billion) in 2021 to €58.763 billion ($62,92 billion) in 2022. When offset against the company's various expenses, this resulted in a 1% rise in the manufacturer's net income, which came to €4.247 billion ($4.548 billion).

This slight rise was also reflected by a 1% increase in Airbus' earnings per share, which rose from €5.36 ($5.74) last year to $5.40 ($5.78) apiece in 2022. With 1,078 gross and 820 net orders in 2022 (vs 771 and 507 in 2021), Airbus' order intake grew 33% from €62.007 billion ($66.38 billion) to €82.521 billion ($88.34 billion). Reflecting on the company's performance last year, CEO Guillaume Faury stated:

"The industry continued its recovery during 2022, with air traffic increasing and airlines turning to their long-term fleet planning. We delivered solid financials despite an adverse operating environment that prevented our supply chain from recovering at the pace we expected."

Photo: Chittapon Kaewkiriya/Shutterstock

Aiming to increase deliveries

Faury added that, as a result of the supply chain's slower recovery, Airbus saw "lower commercial aircraft deliveries than originally planned" last year. All in all, the company delivered a total of 661 commercial aircraft, against an initial target of 700. Despite this, the company hopes to exceed this figure in the coming year.

Indeed, Airbus is targeting 720 commercial aircraft deliveries in 2023, and adjusted pre-tax earnings of €6 billion ($6,425 billion). It explains that this aim is based on "no additional disruptions to the world economy, air traffic, the supply chain, the company's internal operations, and its ability to deliver products and services."

In terms of what Airbus did manage to deliver last year, 516 of the company's 661 commercial aircraft deliveries (78%) came from the A320 family. In descending order, this was followed by 60 A350s, 53 A220s, and 32 A330s. Despite missing the 700-aircraft target, deliveries were still up by 8.2% compared to 611 deliveries in 2021.

Photo: Airbus

A promising fourth quarter

As well as disclosing its full-year results this morning, Airbus also revealed its figures for Q4 of 2022. These generally showed greater increases than across the year as a whole, suggesting that 2022 ended strongly for the company. This could bode well for 2023 if its performance remains at or exceeds this level.

The quarter saw a 21% year-on-year revenue increase, with Airbus' figure in this regard rising from €16.994 billion ($18.195 billion) in Q4 of 2021 to €20.644 billion ($22.103 billion) this time around. This resulted in Q4 net income growth of 6%, from €1.578 billion ($1.69 billion) to €1.679 billion ($1.799 billion), with earnings per share increasing by the same percentage from €2.01 ($2.15) to €2.13 ($2.28).

What do you make of Airbus' fourth-quarter and full-year performance in 2022? How do you see this year panning out for the company? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!