Airbus net profit soars 28% in first quarter

European aviation giant Airbus posted a 28 percent increase in first-quarter profit Thursday through rising deliveries and production, a day after arch-rival Boeing reported a loss.

Airbus' net income in the first three months rose to 595 million euros ($637 million) while revenue grew nine percent to 12.8 billion euros, as the group delivered 142 commercial planes compared with 127 over the same period last year.

The results were delivered "against the backdrop of an operating environment that shows no sign of improvement," chief executive Guillaume Faury said in a statement. "Geopolitical and supply chain tensions continue."

Suppliers say they also face component and staff shortages.

Faury said the plane giant was "actively managing bottlenecks".

Airbus was closely watching the future of Spirit Aerosystems, a US firm that makes some wings and plane body elements for Airbus, which could be bought by Boeing, Faury added.

Airbus expects to deliver 800 passenger planes this year, up from 735 last year, but still below the 863 it delivered in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company has an order backlog of 8,626 planes, of which 7,177 are for the narrow-body A320 family.

Airbus' rising profit contrasts with its American rival Boeing, which Wednesday reported a first-quarter loss of $343 million, reflecting recent safety troubles that have slowed production and deliveries.

Boeing tempered production of its best-selling 737 program following a January near-catastrophic incident on an Alaska Airlines jet that has sparked heavy scrutiny from US regulators and among aviation customers.

Boeing's 737 competes directly with Airbus' A320 family, and Airbus said it aims to produce 75 A320s a year by 2026 and is "making progress" towards that goal after delivering 48 a month on average last year.

"Our ramp up plans are continuing, supported by the investments in our production system while relying on our core pillars of safety, quality, integrity, compliance and security," CEO Faury said.

The ramp-up in production led to free cash flow falling 1.8 billion euros during the quarter, though the company is targeting free cash flow of 4 billion euros for the year.

Airbus also said it is increasing the production rate for its A350 widebody to 12 planes a month by 2028, up from a previous target of 10 by 2026.

The A350 accounted for 71 of the 137 plane orders received by the company in the first quarter. Low-cost Indian airline IndiGo, whose order last year for 500 A320s is already the largest-ever order in the history of commercial aviation, said Thursday it would buy 30 A350s and placed options on 70 more.