Airbus ended October with 621 aircraft handed over since the start of the year, leaving roughly 249 jets still to be delivered before December 31 if the planemaker is to hit its full-year target of about 870 aircraft. That fourth-quarter workload, flagged by Reuters on Friday, sits at the centre of a divided analyst view of the stock.
Jefferies reiterated a “Hold” rating on Friday and kept its price target at EUR 210. RBC Capital Markets stayed at “Outperform” with a EUR 240 target, leaving a clear gap between the two houses. The Reuters report also pointed to a UBS target cut and fresh trade tensions with the United States as additional drags on the shares, which fell 0.9% on Friday to close at EUR 195.88.
October slips, the ten-month trend does not
Last month’s handovers went to 45 customers and totalled 74 aircraft — below the 78 commercial jets Airbus delivered in October 2025. The year-to-date figure nevertheless ran 6.2% ahead of the comparable prior-year period.
Order intake painted a brighter picture. Airbus booked 202 gross orders in October, taking the ten-month total to 1,376. Both figures are gross and precede any cancellations.
Guidance held, nine-month figures confirmed
Airbus reaffirmed its full-year outlook on 28 October. Alongside the delivery goal, the company continues to expect adjusted operating profit of around EUR 7.5 billion and free cash flow before customer financing of roughly EUR 4.5 billion. For the first nine months of 2026, Airbus reported revenue of EUR 50.6 billion and an adjusted operating result of EUR 4.5 billion.
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Washington warning and a drone qualification
Trade policy remains a live risk. The US Trade Representative warned on 26 October that a record European Investment Bank credit to Airbus could undermine the agreed pause on aircraft-related tariffs between Washington and Brussels. That was a warning from the US side, not an announcement of new duties.
On the defence side, France’s procurement agency DGA qualified the vertical take-off and landing variant of Airbus Helicopters’ U010 Aliaca for service on Tuesday under the SMDM contract, and ordered 34 systems. Each system comprises two drones, so the order is counted in systems rather than individual air vehicles.
Training tools folded into Skywise
Airbus also widened its Skywise digital portfolio on 2 November with solutions for flight training. The MATe Suite, the Virtual Procedure Trainer and Flight eLearning — all previously standalone Airbus training products — have been brought inside the Skywise offering, consolidating the company’s digital flight-training lineup under a single platform.
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