Market Intelligence: Far East & China

Global – Airbus has closed 2025 with robust aircraft production and delivery performance, achieving deliveries closely aligned with its revised target and setting the stage for accelerated output in 2026 — a trend with notable implications for pilot training demand and simulator utilisation across global airlines and training organisations.

• Airbus delivered 793 aircraft in 2025, narrowly exceeding its adjusted goal of 790, despite facing supplier‑related production challenges earlier in the year.

• The company’s expanded international manufacturing footprint, including final assembly lines in Mobile, Alabama (USA) and Tianjin (China), alongside traditional European facilities, has enabled decentralised production capacity and reduced vulnerability to regional disruptions.

• Airbus now operates 10 A320 family final assembly lines worldwide, all configured to support high‑demand variants such as the A321neo, which accounts for about 60 %–67 % of single‑aisle deliveries and backlog demand.

• The manufacturer is progressing toward a monthly production rate of 75 A320 family aircraft by 2027 — a scale that will directly influence airline cadet programmes, hiring forecasts, and demand for type‑specific flight training syllabi

• Strategic investments in automation, digital manufacturing, and expanded supply‑chain oversight (“watchtowers”) have helped Airbus mitigate quality and logistical issues, including a notable panel defect and software vulnerability that led to intensive year‑end delivery efforts.

• Airbus’s diverse production and supply‑chain strategy, including an impending acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems’ A320 and A220 operations, adds roughly 4,000 skilled employees and secures critical component workflows — factors that support sustained delivery momentum and associated pilot training requirements.

Source: Airbus