May 27—NEW DELHI — Aerospace major Airbus SE on Thursday said it will ramp up production of popular Airbus A320 planes as it prepares for a recovery.
The company said it plans to secure a firm production rate of 64 A320 family planes in a month by April- June 2023, up from 45 during the October- December 2021 period.
"In anticipation of a continued recovering market, Airbus is also asking suppliers to enable a scenario of rate 70 by Q1 2024. Longer term, Airbus is investigating opportunities for rates as high as 75 by 2025," the company said in a statement.
Airbus A320 family planes are one of the most popular narrow body aircraft in the world and serve to connect mainly domestic and short-haul destinations. Major Indian airlines like IndiGo, GoAir, AirIndia, Vistara, AirAsia India operate a significant number of Airbus A320 fleet.
Airbus said it expects the commercial aircraft market to recover to pre-covid levels between 2023 and 2025, led by procurement of single-aisle aircraft like the A320 family of planes.
"The company is therefore providing suppliers with an update of its production plans, giving visibility in order to schedule necessary investments and secure long term capacity and production rate readiness, in line with the expected recovery," it said.
Airbus added that it will increase production of A350 planes from an average rate of five per month to six by autumn of 2022. The company also plans to increase production of A220 planes to 14 a month by the middle of the decade.
"The aviation sector is beginning to recover from the COVID-19 crisis", said Guillaume Faury, chief executive officer of Airbus.
"The message to our supplier community provides visibility to the entire industrial ecosystem to secure the necessary capabilities and be ready when market conditions call for it," he said.
"In parallel, we are transforming our industrial system by optimising our aerostructures set-up and modernising our A320 Family production facilities. All these actions are set in motion to prepare our future," he added.
Aviation is been among the hardest hit sectors by the pandemic. However, it is expected to bounce back to pre-covid levels in the next couple of years as countries prepare to complete massive vaccination drives that would protect the masses against covid-19
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