Airbus delivers record plane orders in 2012

Airbus has announced that it delivered a company record of 588 aircraft to 89 customers and exceeded its order target of 650 by winning 914 gross orders during 2012.

These orders, which include nine A380 superjumbos, and Airbus said its backlog set a new industry-wide record of 4,682 aircraft valued at over $638bn.

Deliveries were 10 percent higher than the 2011 record (534) and 2012 was the 11th year in a row of increased production, the European plane maker said in a statement.

Despite setting a new record last year, Airbus fell short of rival Boeing's performance which earlier this month said it booked 1,203 net commercial airplane orders in 2012 and also delivered 601 airplanes.

Airbus said its share of total aircraft sales by value (above 100 seats) in 2012, was 41.5 percent with orders reaching 833 aircraft worth $96bn.

It added that the A380 delivery target of 30 was achieved setting a new company record for the type after it delivered 26 in 2011.

A statement said Airbus Military had a successful year delivering 29 aircraft "despite difficult global conditions". 

Airbus also said it recruited 5,000 employees in 2012 increasing the global employee figure to 59,000 and targets recruiting some 3,000 in 2013 to support all programme developments.

Fabrice Bregier, Airbus president and CEO, said: "Looking back over 2012, we can proudly say it was a fantastic year. We delivered a record number of aircraft which highlights our increasing efficiency, and the market again demonstrated its confidence in all our products.

"We are keeping our production rates at a manageable pace, which is good for our supply chain, and bodes well for our long term profitability and bright future."