Aerospace giant Airbus has seen earnings rise by around a fifth as it ramped up plane production and its order book grew.

The company, which employs thousands of people at its UK sites in Filton, South Gloucestershire, and Broughton, North Wales, reported consolidated adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of £881m for the first nine months of the financial year. This reflected a 21% rise on the £727m recorded a year earlier.

Consolidated revenues increased 12% year-on-year to £37m, up from £33.1bn in 2022, with revenues generated by Airbus’ commercial aircraft activities up by 18%. The firm delivered 488 commercial aircraft during the period, 51 more than this time last year, with its order book backlog amounting to almost 8,000 planes at the end of September.

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Airbus’ helicopters division registered 191 net orders while its defence and space business’ order intake by value was £7.3bn, including the renewal of a support contract with Germany’s air force.

Chief executive Guillaume Faury said: “We continue to make progress on our operational plan in a global environment that has become increasingly complex. The nine-month earnings reflect higher commercial aircraft deliveries, the good performance in helicopters as well as charges linked to the reassessment of certain satellite development programmes. Demand for our commercial aircraft is very strong with a continuing recovery in the widebody market. We expect the supply chain to remain challenging as we progress on the production ramp-up. In that context, we maintain our guidance for the full year.”

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The board said it was expecting the company to deliver a total of 720 commercial aircraft this year, and adjusted EBIT of £5.2bn - which would reflect a rise from the £4.9bn made last year - when it delivered 661 commercial aircraft. Airbus is targeting a monthly production rate of 14 A220 aircraft and 75 A320 planes by 2026.

Airbus estimated that it had added more than 11,00 people to its global workforce since the end of the last calendar year, with the manufacturer recently announcing plans to hire an additional 1,100 people in the UK. The company announced a record intake of 241 interns, graduates and apprentices at its site in Filton in September.