Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury Talks Next-Gen Single-Aisle Aircraft

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Airbus continues to outpace Boeing in China. Fresh orders from Air China and Hainan Airlines, worth about $18 billion, add to the plane maker's momentum at this year's Farnborough Air Show. Bloomberg guys Johnson joins us now with the CEO of Airbus. Guy, take it away.

**Guy Johnson** (0:14)
Thank you very much indeed. Yeah, Guillaume Faury is here. He is the CEO of Airbus. Nice to see you.

**Guillaume Faury** (0:21)
Nice to see you.

**Guy Johnson** (0:21)
How's it going?
Is the demand story looking okay at the moment? I've got a Gulf War that's getting worse. I've got an oil price that's at 90 bucks a barrel. Any sign at this show that consumers are starting to get a little bit more cautious again?

**Guillaume Faury** (0:34)
Well, it's the first day of the show and it started very strongly. We still see a very strong demand for our products. We have a backlog of more than 9,200 aircraft, and we continue to get fresh orders for our short distance aircraft, for the long range aircraft.
The Middle East crisis is actually filling some demand because the price of oil is very high and fuel efficient aircraft are in more demand.

**Guy Johnson** (1:01)
Do you like the economy right now? Do you get a sense that what we're seeing at the moment is sustainable? Or are you starting to get a little bit nervous?

**Guillaume Faury** (1:09)
Well, it's a very complex economy. It's a very complex world, very fast changing, very unpredictable.
But we have more visibility than others with the backlog we have, with a very strong demand for transport, for commercial aviation and with defense. So I think given the environments, we can't complain. We have quite a bit of visibility.

**Guy Johnson** (1:29)
So you've got a really big backlog, particularly of the narrow-body aircraft. You'd like to produce more of them, but you're struggling. You've got well-documented engine issues. You and I have joked in the past about building gliders.
You'd like to produce at rate 75, but you probably can't. So what rate can you produce at? What are you doing right now?

**Guillaume Faury** (1:48)
We have a plan to go to rate 75 and we are equipped. We have made the investment and we have the support from the supply chain to get there. So there is absolutely no doubt in my perspective that we'll get to the rate 75
And when we look at what we have achieved already in the first half of this year, we have increased by 15%, 1.5, compared to the first half of 2025 So we are progressing well. We are doing what we wanted to do and we keep targeting around 870 aircraft for 2026 That is very consistent with the rate 75, close to rate 75 or at rate 75 for the end of next year.

**Guy Johnson** (2:25)
Okay.
I understand a little somebody told me that tomorrow you're going to have an investor day and you're going to give some pretty aggressive targets in terms of deliveries. If I assume that that is correct, that you are going to deliver those quite aggressive targets, do you think you're going to be through the Pratt & Whitney engine issues fairly soon? When do these issues, supply chain issues finally get resolved?

**Guillaume Faury** (2:46)
Well, it's not a thing that the Pratt & Whitney situation means that we have supply chain issues everywhere. That's not the case. As I told you, we are ramping up. It's the case on all our programs.
We have given already targets in terms of rates for the 320, rate 75, for the A350, rate 12, for the 330, rate 5, and for the 220 as well. So we are on the ramp up everywhere, but we are consistent, in line with our ramp up objectives for this year, and we intend to continue to stay in line with our objectives, so delivering to our customers.

**Guy Johnson** (3:22)
Let's talk about the story that everybody's talking about here at Farnborough, and that is when does the next generation of narrow body arrive?
I spoke to your friend in Seattle a little bit earlier on. He told me that Boeing is probably looking at the back end of next decade. Guillaume, can you get there first? Can you get to the market first with the next generation of aircraft?

**Guillaume Faury** (3:42)
Well, we want to be going to the market in the right timing, when we are ready, when the technologies are ready. We have already said and we confirm that we want to launch the next generation single aisle in 2030 for an entry into service in the second part of the next decade.