Airbus earnings
MyStockButler's October 2026 analysis: Airbus reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of €17.469 billion, down 2%, and reported operating income of €1.805 billion, while adjusted EBIT fell 9% to €1.768 billion. Watch whether Airbus turns its order book into deliveries and cash.
What has Airbus guided for 2026?
Management retained targets of around 870 commercial-aircraft deliveries, €7.5 billion of EBIT Adjusted and €4.5 billion of free cash flow before customer financing for 2026. EBIT Adjusted is Airbus’s operating-profit measure before interest and tax, with specified adjustments. Free cash flow before customer financing measures cash generated after investment, excluding cash used to finance aircraft for customers. The guidance includes applicable tariffs but excludes mergers and acquisitions.
| Period | Low | High | Given on | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial aircraft deliveries (aircraft) | Year to Dec 2026 | 870 | 870 | Oct 28, 2026 |
| EBIT Adjusted | Year to Dec 2026 | 7,500 | 7,500 | Oct 28, 2026 |
| Free Cash Flow before Customer Financing | Year to Dec 2026 | 4,500 | 4,500 | Oct 28, 2026 |
| A320 Family monthly production rate (aircraft per month) | Year to Dec 2027 | 70 | 75 | Oct 28, 2026 |
What this means. These are company targets, not results already achieved, and the production figure is the expected monthly rate at the end of 2027, not the number delivered that year.
Has Airbus kept its past promises?
The delivery record shows why the distinction matters. Airbus began 2025 targeting around 820 commercial aircraft. On 3 December it cut that target to around 790 after a supplier’s fuselage-panel quality problem, then delivered 793 for the year. In its 28 October 2026 results, management kept its target of around 870 deliveries. Airbus had delivered 547 through September, leaving the final quarter to complete much of the plan.
| What management forecast | Checked | Above | Within | Below |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial aircraft deliveries | 5 years | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| EBIT Adjusted | 5 years | 3 | 0 | 2 |
What do Airbus’s last eight reported periods show?
Revenue fell 2% to €17.469 billion from €17.826 billion a year earlier, and Airbus delivered 196 commercial aircraft, five fewer than in the comparable quarter. Services partly offset the lower aircraft volume, but commercial-aircraft revenue fell 2%, Helicopters was broadly flat and Defence and Space slipped 1%.
Reported operating income rose from €1.748 billion to €1.805 billion, yet adjusted EBIT fell 9% from €1.942 billion to €1.768 billion. Fewer deliveries, a less favourable mix and Spirit-integration costs hurt the underlying result. A €146 million positive dollar-timing adjustment more than offset a €112 million Spirit charge, so reported growth overstated operational improvement.
| Sep 2026 | Jun 2026 | Mar 2026 | Dec 2025 | Sep 2025 | Jun 2025 | Mar 2025 | Dec 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 17,469 | 20,525 | 12,651 | 25,984 | 17,826 | 16,068 | 13,542 | 24,716 |
| Operating income | 1,805 | 2,521 | 224 | 2,717 | 1,748 | 1,144 | 473 | 2,614 |
| Net income | 1,344 | 1,657 | 586 | 2,580 | 1,116 | 732 | 793 | 2,424 |
| EPS, diluted | 1.70 | 2.10 | 0.74 | 3.26 | 1.41 | 0.93 | 1.01 | 3.06 |
What this means. The capital spending numbers are cash going out, even though they are printed as positive amounts, and they include intangible assets and investment property.
What should investors watch in Airbus’s next release?
The order book gives Airbus visibility, but deliveries and programme milestones will determine whether that visibility becomes cash.