Airbus


Airbus SE is a European aerospace corporation. While the company's primary business is the design and manufacture of commercial aircraft, it also operates separate divisions for Defence and Space and Helicopters. Airbus has long been the world's leading helicopter manufacturer and, in 2019, emerged as the world's largest manufacturer of airliners.
Airbus originated from Airbus Industrie GIE, a consortium of European aerospace companies established in 1970 to produce a wide-body aircraft to compete with American-built airliners. In 2000, the consortium's parent firms—Aérospatiale-Matra of France, DASA of Germany, and CASA of Spain—merged to form the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, which later acquired full ownership of Airbus Industrie. EADS rebranded as Airbus SE in 2015. Reflecting its multinational origins, the company operates offices and assembly plants in France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom, along with more recent additions in Canada, Malaysia, the United States, Morocco, and India.
Airbus's headquarters are legally registered in Leiden, Netherlands, while day-to-day management is conducted from the company's main office in Blagnac, France. The SE in its name denotes Societas Europaea, a public company under European Union corporate law. Airbus is led by CEO Guillaume Faury and is included in the EURO STOXX 50 stock market index. Since its inception in 2000, the company's shares have been listed on the Paris, Frankfurt, and four Spanish stock exchanges, including the Bolsa de Madrid.

History

Products

Civilian

The Airbus product line started with the A300 in 1972, the world's first wide-body, twinjet aircraft. Initial sales were slow, leading to calls to end the Airbus program. However, the aircraft would greatly benefit from the 1976 introduction of the ETOPS 90 rule, which allowed twinjet aircraft to operate up to 90 minutes—an increase from 60 minutes—away from the nearest airport. Under the new rule, the A300 was able to operate over the North Atlantic, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean,  making it a more efficient alternative to the trijets and four-engined aircraft offered by competitors, leading to renewed airline interest and a sharp increase in sales.
Airbus then developed the A310 to meet demand for a shorter-body but longer-range version of the A300. The aircraft also introduced a glass cockpit, which eliminated the need for a flight engineer, and a redesigned rear fuselage that used space more efficiently, creating additional capacity. The A310 was manufactured from 1981 to 1998. These design changes were later incorporated into the A300, resulting in the A300-600.
Building on its success with the A300, Airbus developed a narrow-body aircraft that led to the launch of the A320 in 1987, which became and remains a major commercial success. The A320 was the first commercial jet to use a digital fly-by-wire control system. All Airbus models developed since have adopted cockpit systems similar to the A320, making it easier for crews to transition between aircraft types. The success of the A320 led Airbus to introduce a lengthened version, the A321, in 1993, followed by the shorter A319 in 1995 and the even shorter A318 in 2002. In 2016, Airbus re-engineered the narrow-body family under a programme called the A320neo.''
File:A340_D-AIHK_EDDF_2009-08-09.jpg|thumb|alt=An A340-600|Airbus A340 at Frankfurt Airport
Airbus also embarked on an effort to develop new wide-body aircraft derived from the cross-section of the A300, but with greater range and seating capacity and integrating technologies developed from the A320 programme. This effort led to the introduction of the four-engine A340 in 1991 and the twinjet A330 in 1992. At that time, Airbus wanted to offer a four-engined jet aircraft to allow for longer transatlantic and transpacific flights. However, during the aircraft's development, new rules extended twinjet operations to 120 minutes in 1986 and 180 minutes in 1989. Although these changes hurt sales of the A340, they greatly benefited the A330. Production of the A340 ended in 2011, while the A330 was re-engineered as the A330neo in 2018.
File:Emirates Airbus A380-861 A6-EER MUC 2015 02.jpg|thumb|An Airbus A380 taking off from Munich Airport
In 2005, Airbus introduced the world's largest passenger airliner: the A380 is a four-engine aircraft with two full-length passenger seating decks. Intended to challenge the dominance of the Boeing 747 in the long-haul market, the A380 was ultimately a money-losing venture for Airbus due to large development costs and limited sales arising from high operating costs, and production ended in December 2021.
The A350, a wide-body, twinjet aircraft, was introduced in 2013. The A350 was the first Airbus aircraft that was largely produced from carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers. It is longer and wider than the fuselage used on the A300, A310, A330, and A340.
A second narrow-body jet was added to the product list in 2018 when Airbus gained control of the Bombardier CSeries programme, and rebranded it as the A220. The jet offers five-abreast seating compared to the six-abreast seating on the A320.
In December 2024, it was reported that the total aircraft delivery in the year for Airbus has reached 643 units, with 84 planes delivered in November 2024 alone. Subsequently, in January 2025, it was reported that Airbus had successfully delivered 766 aircraft to its customers out of 878 orders in the entire 2024, marking a 4% increase from the previous year. In October 2025, the A320 overtook the Boeing 737 as the most delivered airliner.

Corporate jets

markets and modifies new aircraft for private and corporate customers. It has a model range that parallels the commercial aircraft offered by the company. Following the entry of the 737-based Boeing Business Jet, Airbus joined the business jet market with the A319 Corporate Jet in 1997. Although the term Airbus Corporate Jet was initially used only for the A319CJ, it is now often used for all models, including VIP widebodies. As of December 2008, 121 corporate and private jets are operating, and 164 aircraft have been ordered.
The company is also a 10% owner of Dassault Aviation, which builds the Falcon family of smaller business jets.

Military

markets and either builds or modifies new aircraft for military use. Airbus became increasingly interested in developing and selling to the military aviation market in the late 1990s. It embarked on two main fields of development: aerial refuelling with the Airbus A310 MRTT and later the Airbus A330 MRTT, and tactical airlift with the Airbus A400M Atlas. The company has also continued to market and assemble some military aircraft previously offered by the companies that formed Airbus, notably CASA.
The A310 and A330-based MRTT aircraft are conversions of civilian airliners. The aircraft are called multi-role tanker transports because, in addition to their aerial refuelling capability, the aircraft can also be configured for troop transport, medevac, and cargo transportation.
The A400M Atlas is a four-engine, turboprop-powered tactical transport aircraft. The A400M is sized between the American-made C-130 and the C-17 transports, and while it can carry heavier loads than the C-130, its turboprop engines allow it to retain the ability to use rough landing strips. The A400M was developed for European NATO members Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey, and the UK, as an alternative to relying on foreign aircraft. During development, the A400M programme faced delays and cost overruns; with customer nations stepping in to offer additional subsidies. The first aircraft was delivered to the French Air Force in 2013, and by 2023, more than 100 aircraft had been built.
The Defence and Space division also markets and assembles the EADS CASA C295, a smaller tactical transport aircraft, that was designed and initially manufactured by the Spanish aerospace company CASA.
The company is also a 50% owner of the ArianeGroup joint venture which builds the Ariane 5 space launch vehicle, a 46% owner of the Eurofighter joint venture which builds the Typhoon fighter jet, a 42.5% owner of the Panavia Aircraft joint venture which built the Tornado fighter jet, a 37.5% owner of the MBDA joint venture which builds missiles, and a 10% owner of Dassault Aviation which builds the Rafale fighter jet, and previously, the Mirage 2000 fighter.

Helicopters

markets and builds new rotorcraft for civilian and military use. The division was founded formed in 1992 as the Eurocopter Group, through the merger of the helicopter divisions of Aérospatiale and DASA. Airbus Helicopters is the foremost player in the turbine helicopter industry both in terms of revenues and deliveries.
The division's civilian products include the single-engine H125 and H130, the light twin-engine H135 and H145, the medium twin-engine H155 and H160, the super medium twin-engine H175, and the heavy twin-engine H215 and H225.
Military products include the Tiger attack helicopter, along with militarised versions of the H125, H135, H145, H160, H175, H215, and H225.
The company is also a 62.5% owner of the NHIndustries joint venture, which builds the NH90 military utility helicopter.

Organisation

Divisions

Commercial Aircraft

Commercial aircraft generated 74% of total revenue for the Airbus group in 2018 and 72% in 2023. The key trends for Airbus Commercial Aircraft are as of each financial year ending 31 December:
Revenue
Operating
income
Value of
order book
Unfulfilled
orders		Net order
intake		Aircraft
deliveries		Number of
employees
201649.21.51,0106,87473168873,852
201743.42.29507,2651,10971874,542
201847.94.24117,57774780080,924
201954.71.74247,48276886380,985
202034.2−1.33247,18426856678,487
202136.14.13457,08250761173,560
202241.44.83907,23982066179,134
202347.73.64908,5982,09473590,032
202450.64.26298,658826766