PARIS — Airbus announced a net loss of €1.36 billion for 2019, struck by €3.6 billion in fines from a corruption settlement with French, British, and American judicial authorities and a €1.2 billion charge on the troubled A400M military transport aircraft program.
Excluding exceptional items, the European aircraft manufacturer recorded an adjusted operating profit of €6.9 billion — a figure that reflects the underlying commercial strength of its commercial aviation business even as the headline result turned negative. Revenue reached €70.5 billion, up 11% from 2018.
“These results reflect the final agreements concluded with the authorities to close compliance investigations, as well as a charge related to the revision of our export contract forecasts for the A400M,” said chief executive Guillaume Faury in the company’s results statement.
The corruption settlement, concluded January 31, resolved an investigation into practices relating to the securing of contracts across multiple markets. The fine of €3.598 billion was paid to French, British, and American authorities to avoid criminal prosecution — one of the largest compliance settlements in European aviation history. Airbus concluded a deferred prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice, the UK Serious Fraud Office, and France’s Parquet National Financier simultaneously.
The A400M program delivered 14 aircraft in 2019 in line with its updated schedule, crossing “several key milestones towards the full operational capacity of the aircraft,” including simultaneous paratrooper releases and first dry helicopter refueling tests. But the program carries a €1.2 billion charge because “export ambitions are proving increasingly difficult to achieve” — driven largely by Germany’s repeated extension of its ban on military equipment exports to Saudi Arabia, imposed after the October 2018 assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Additional exceptional charges totaling €576 million — including €202 million for the termination of the A380 superjumbo program and €221 million from Germany’s Saudi export suspension — complete the 2019 write-downs.
Facing a competitor in deep crisis — Boeing’s 737 MAX had been grounded since March 2019 after two crashes that killed 346 people — Airbus recorded its strongest commercial delivery year yet: 863 aircraft, up from 800 in 2018. The manufacturer planned approximately 880 deliveries for 2020, cautioning only that forecasts assumed “the absence of major disruption, including as a result of the coronavirus.” The manufacturing quality challenges that would hit the A320 program years later were not yet visible in 2019. Order intake hit €81.2 billion, bringing the total order book to €471 billion.
Airbus also announced the resumption alongside the Quebec government of its participation in Airbus Canada, the limited partnership producing the A220 medium-haul aircraft. The transaction raised Airbus’s stake to 75% from 50.06%, with an option to acquire the Quebec government’s remaining 25% in 2026.
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