By Yann Barbaux,Senior Vice President Airbus SAS, former Executive Chairman Aerospace Valley, AAE correspondent
In March 2020, the health crisis linked to COVID-19 plunged air transport, and in the wake of the entire civil aeronautics sector, into a deep economic crisis, on a scale and duration never seen before, and all the more severe in its impact as it occurred in a period of sharp increase in production rates that had led all players to invest massively. At the height of this crisis, global air traffic had fallen by 90% for several months.
While AIRBUS had delivered around 300 aircraft in the 1stquarter of 2020, all deliveries stopped from mid-March; Orders are then put on hold and some are cancelled. This situation immediately puts the cash flow of all players in the red
In response, and to preserve its capacity and supply chain, AIRBUS has been reducing its production rate by an average of 40% since April 2020 and is focusing all its efforts on helping its customers take possession of the aircraft ordered.