Airbus

Airbus is a European aerospace company that builds commercial aircraft, helicopters, and defence and space systems, with its main operations centered on Toulouse, France. It grew out of a 1970 consortium of European firms and delivered 793 commercial aircraft in 2025, when its revenue reached 73.4 billion euros.

History of Airbus

France and West Germany began talks about a joint airliner project in 1965, and on July 25, 1967, the governments agreed to proceed with design studies. Airbus Industrie was formed on December 18, 1970, as a consortium of European aviation firms created to compete with Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed. Its first partners, on a 50-50 basis, were Deutsche Airbus of West Germany and Aerospatiale of France.

The A300 first flew in Toulouse on October 28, 1972, a month ahead of schedule, and the first production model entered service with Air France in 1974. It was described as the first twin-engine wide-body aircraft. A wide-body aircraft has two passenger aisles, which makes it larger than a single-aisle jet.

The Spanish firm CASA held 4.2 percent of the consortium in its early years, and British Aerospace joined in 1979 with 20 percent. Airbus introduced the A320 family in 1987.

The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, EADS, was formed on July 10, 2000, from the merger of Aerospatiale-Matra, DASA and CASA. Airbus became a joint-stock company, Airbus SAS, in 2001, with EADS holding 80 percent and BAE Systems 20 percent. BAE sold its stake to EADS in 2006, which made EADS the sole owner.

The A380 made its first flight on April 27, 2005, and the first delivery went to Singapore Airlines on October 15, 2007. EADS was renamed Airbus Group in 2014 and Airbus Group SE in 2015. In 2017 Airbus SAS and Airbus Group SE merged into a single company, Airbus SE.

Products and services of Airbus

Airbus has three businesses: commercial aircraft, helicopters, and defence and space. Its commercial aircraft come in four families, the A220, the A320 family, the A330 and the A350.

In 2025 Airbus delivered 793 commercial aircraft to 91 customers, up 4 percent from 766 in 2024 and 735 in 2023. The A320 family accounted for 607 of them, the A220 for 93, the A350 for 57 and the A330 for 36.

Airbus received 1,000 gross orders from 57 customers in 2025, or 889 after cancellations, which are called net orders. The net total included 656 aircraft in the A320 family, 193 A350, 100 A330neo, 49 A220 and 2 A330 MRTT. The year-end backlog, the number of ordered aircraft not yet delivered, was a record 8,754 aircraft, and the widebody backlog was a record 1,124. By simple division, the total backlog equals about 11 years of 2025 deliveries. Airbus also reported a book-to-bill ratio above one, which means orders exceeded deliveries.

The company is raising production. It expects to build 70 to 75 A320 family aircraft a month by the end of 2027, stabilizing at 75 after that. Its other targets are 13 A220 a month in 2028, 12 A350 a month in 2028 and 5 A330 a month in 2029.

In its 2025 results Airbus said that the engine maker Pratt and Whitney had not committed to the number of jet engines Airbus had ordered, which affected its guidance and the A320 ramp-up. This is the company’s own account of a supplier problem, and the engine maker’s position is not given in the source.

Corporate structure and operations

Production takes place mainly in France, Germany, Spain, China and the United Kingdom. Airbus reported consolidated revenue of 73.4 billion euros in 2025, up 6 percent from 69.2 billion euros in 2024.

Commercial aircraft revenue was 52.6 billion euros, up 4 percent. Airbus Helicopters had revenue of 9.0 billion euros, up 13 percent, and Defence and Space had 13.4 billion euros, up 11 percent.

Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, called EBIT Adjusted, were 7.128 billion euros, compared with 5.354 billion euros in 2024. EBIT Adjusted removes certain items so that underlying performance is easier to compare, and the 2024 figure included 1.3 billion euros of charges on space programs. Net income was 5.221 billion euros, up from 4.232 billion euros. Commercial aircraft EBIT Adjusted was 5.47 billion euros, compared with 5.093 billion euros in 2024.

Consolidated free cash flow was 4.753 billion euros, and consolidated net cash was 12.2 billion euros, with gross cash of 27.2 billion euros. Order intake by value was 123.3 billion euros, up from 103.5 billion euros.

Impact of Airbus

Airbus changed the market for large passenger jets by creating a European competitor to Boeing. The A300 was described as the first twin-engine wide-body aircraft, and the A320 family, introduced in 1987, helped establish Airbus as a major world manufacturer.

In 2025 Airbus delivered 793 aircraft compared with Boeing’s 600, and the two figures come from each company’s own reporting. The company’s record backlog shows how many orders for commercial aviation aircraft are already booked.

Airbus also shows how a multinational project can be built across borders. Its history began with governments in two countries and grew to include airplane assembly and parts across several.

Criticism and controversies

On January 31, 2020, Airbus entered into deferred prosecution agreements covering bribery. It agreed to pay about 3.6 billion euros across the United Kingdom, France and the United States.

The U.K. Serious Fraud Office agreement was worth about 991 million euros, including 585.9 million euros in disgorgement of profit and a 398.0 million euro fine. The French financial prosecutor settled for about 2.08 billion euros, and the U.S. agreement with the Justice Department and State Department was for about 525.7 million euros.

The U.K. case concerned five counts of failure to prevent bribery. The conduct involved bribes paid through agents between 2011 and 2015 in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Ghana, and it involved the commercial aircraft and defence and space divisions. The U.K. agreement ran until January 31, 2023, and the investigation into individuals remained active. Under the terms, the indictment was suspended for the agreement period, and prosecution could resume if Airbus breached the conditions. The figure of about 3.6 billion euros excludes the investigator’s own costs of about 7 million euros.

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 4, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue