Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury speaks during a results press conference in Toulouse, France, on Thursday.ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images
Airbus SE EADSY has shaved its main jet production goal in a dispute with Pratt & Whitney over engine supply shortfalls and threatened to enforce its contractual rights as a tug of war for parts pushed its shares down 6 per cent.
The unusually public criticism from the world’s largest plane maker follows months of tensions over the allocation of engines and spare parts between aircraft assembly lines and the repair facilities where engine makers make most of their profit.
Airbus officials said they had been forced to scale back production plans and temper financial guidance for 2026 after Pratt & Whitney reconsidered initial proposals concerning engine volumes and then “failed” to strike a formal supply agreement.
“We are very dissatisfied and we don’t agree with it,” CEO Guillaume Faury told analysts, adding that Airbus would “enforce our contractual rights,” though this would take time.
Pratt & Whitney parent RTX RTX-N declined to comment. The engine maker has said it is in constant dialogue with Airbus.
Faury’s outspoken comments point to one of the fiercest potential disputes in commercial aviation since Airbus clashed with Qatar Airways in a UK court over damage to A350 jets in 2022.
Asked whether Airbus had initiated legal action against Pratt, Faury said it had begun a “process” without elaborating.
Airbus now targets output for the narrow-body A320neo series – its best-selling model – between 70 and 75 jets a month by the end of next year, stabilizing at 75 a month beyond 2027. It had previously predicted 75 a month in 2027, up from 60 now.
The plane maker builds the A220, its smallest model, just north of Montreal in Mirabel and at a separate plant in Mobile, Ala. As of last month, it was aiming to stabilize output at the two facilities at 12 jets per month this year.
Now, however, the company is slowing that ramp up and targeting a rate of 13 per month in 2028. That’s still short of the 14 jets per month rate it has said it needs to break even on the program, which it owns as part of a limited partnership with the Quebec government.
Overshadowing record Airbus profits for 2025, the industrial setback led to what analysts described as disappointing goals for 2026. Airbus predicted 870 jet deliveries, up from 793 last year, and adjusted operating profit around €7.5-billion.
Airbus reported fourth-quarter adjusted operating profit of €2.98-billion (US$3.51-billion), up 17 per cent, as revenue rose 5 per cent to €25.98-billion. Analysts were on average expecting profit of €2.87-billion on revenues of €26.51-billion.
Pressure on aircraft production target planning
The output decision confirms behind-the-scenes pressure on aircraft planning after Reuters reported this month that the Pratt dispute had put Airbus’ main production target at risk.
Faury acknowledged Pratt was facing a number of challenges as it deals with a queue for inspections from a production problem, on top of broader industry supply problems.
But he told analysts the onus was on the U.S. engine maker to increase production to meet competing demands of aircraft factories and overloaded airline maintenance plants.
RTX CEO Chris Calio told analysts in late January that Pratt & Whitney had to strike the right balance given demand from airlines, but stressed overall deliveries rose 50 per cent last year.
Pratt & Whitney makes engines for 40 per cent of Airbus narrow-body A320neo-series jets.
After sparring with alternative engine supplier CFM over similar delays just over a year ago, Airbus first went public with concerns over Pratt & Whitney shipments in January.
Last week CFM indicated it was not ready to wade into the dispute by boosting its own deliveries to Airbus, saying its priority was to meet its existing supply commitments.
Engines are not the only industrial problem for Airbus. In December, it cut delivery forecasts after flaws were discovered in panels from a Spanish supplier. Faury said those problems had weighed on jet deliveries in the first two months of this year.
With a report from Nicolas Van Praet