Airbus has further slowed the rate it makes planes after recording a loss of €1.9bn (£1.7bn) in the first half of the year amid the chaos caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Orders for new aircraft collapsed during the second quarter, as the slump in air travel prompted airlines to cut spending commitments drastically.
Airbus reported on Thursday it had only eight new orders between April and June, compared with 290 in the first quarter.
The European aerospace manufacturer and its US rival, Boeing, have been hit hard by the pandemic, previously announcing swingeing job cuts as they slowed production.
Airbus is cutting 15,000 jobs, including 1,700 in the UK, where it produces wings, to cope with what its chief executive, Guillaume Faury, described as the industry’s “gravest crisis”.
Airbus will now produce only five of its wide-body A350 planes per month, down from the previous rate of six. It had cut the A350 production rate from about 10 per month in April, as it reduced production of its bestselling A320 narrowbody by a third, to 40 per month.
Airbus has an order backlog of 7,584 commercial aircraft as of 30 June, but it has decided to rein back spending as it struggles with lower revenues, with airlines queuing up to slow delivery rates in order to spread out payments.
Revenues slumped to € 18.9bn for the half year, compared with €30.9bn in 2019, after deliveries of commercial aircraft halved.
The lockdowns around the world have also caused continued operational issues. At the end of June, about 145 commercial aircraft could not be delivered because of the pandemic, Airbus said.
Airbus reported a €12.4bn cash outflow during the first half of 2020, although the cost-cutting it announced in April meant only €4.4bn of the outflow came in the second quarter, better than analysts had expected.
Faury said on Thursday it was “our ambition to not consume cash” during the second half of the year, aside from any requirements for acquisitions or to help customers with financing, as the company retrenches.
“The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our financials is now very visible in the second quarter, with H1 commercial aircraft deliveries halving compared with a year ago,” Faury said.
“We have calibrated the business to face the new market environment on an industrial basis and the supply chain is now working in line with the new plan.”
