Overview
Airbus SE is a European aerospace company organized around three main businesses: Commercial Aircraft, Airbus Defence and Space, and Airbus Helicopters.[1] The company says its purpose is to “pioneer sustainable aerospace for a safe and united world,” and it develops aerospace, defence and connected-service solutions.[2][3] Its activities span the design and manufacture of commercial airliners and related services, military air systems, satellites and other space systems, secure communications and intelligence offerings, and civil and military helicopters, drones and support services.[3][4][5][6][7]
The group is legally seated in Amsterdam and listed in France, Germany and Spain, but operates with a broad international footprint.[8] Its workforce is located across major European markets as well as the US, Canada, India, China and Singapore, with additional sites across countries including Brazil, Japan, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Chile, Hungary, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.[9][10] In 2024, Airbus generated €69.2 billion of revenue and employed 156,921 people at year-end, underscoring its position as one of the largest global aerospace and defence manufacturers.[11][12] [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]
Products & services
Airbus’s product portfolio is centered on commercial aircraft families with distinct capacity and range profiles. The A220 family is positioned in the 100-150 seat segment; the A220-100 seats about 100-120 passengers with a 6,390 km range, while the A220-300 seats about 120-150 passengers with a 6,297 km range, and Airbus highlights advanced aerodynamics, composite materials, Pratt & Whitney PW1500G engines and fly-by-wire controls, with fuel burn per seat about 25% lower than previous-generation aircraft.[13][14] The A320 family is Airbus’s main single-aisle line, spanning the A319, A320 and A321 plus neo variants; the A321XLR extends range to about 8,700 km, and Airbus states the neo family delivers up to 20% fuel savings per seat versus earlier A320-family aircraft.[15][16][17] In widebodies, Airbus offers the A330 family for roughly 210-300 seats, the A350-900 and A350-1000 for long-haul passenger service, and the A350F freighter with a 111-tonne payload and 8,700 km range; it also continues to reference the double-deck A380, which can carry over 500 passengers in a four-class configuration.[18][19][20][21][22][23] Commercial aircraft represented approximately 73% of Airbus’s revenues in 2024.[24]
Airbus Helicopters sells a broad rotorcraft range covering civil, parapublic and military missions. Its lineup includes the H125/H125M, H130, H145/H145M/LUH, H160/H160M, H175, H215/H215M, NH90 and Tiger, serving roles such as emergency medical services, public services, oil and gas transport, private and business aviation, military utility and transport, naval missions, search and rescue, and combat or armed reconnaissance.[25][26] Airbus also notes that the H160 has entered service in energy, private/business aviation, search-and-rescue, law-enforcement and military applications.[27] Services are a material part of the offer: customer services represented about 46% of Airbus Helicopters revenue in 2024, and across the group Airbus provides spare-parts distribution through Satair, maintenance and upgrades, passenger-to-freighter conversions, dismantling and recycling, flight-hour support, pilot training and digital fleet analytics through the Skywise platform.[28][29][30][31][32][33]
In defence and space, Airbus’s products include the Eurofighter Typhoon multirole combat aircraft, the A400M airlifter, the C295 light/medium military transport, the A330 MRTT tanker-transport and the Eurodrone remotely piloted system.[4] The A400M is described as a heavy military transport able to perform tactical airlift, strategic transport for outsized loads and tactical tanker missions; the C295 is used for cargo, personnel transport, medical evacuation, humanitarian and maritime-surveillance missions; the A330 MRTT carries 111 tonnes of fuel, up to 37 tonnes of freight and up to 300 troops; and Eurodrone is a medium-altitude long-endurance RPAS designed for flight in non-segregated airspace.[34][35][36][37][38] Airbus’s space products include OneSat reconfigurable telecommunications satellites, the Eurostar Neo platform, Earth-observation satellites with optical and radar instruments, Galileo and EGNOS navigation satellites, and launcher activities through ArianeGroup and Ariane/Vega launch services.[39][40][41][42] [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][4][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]
Geographic presence
Airbus’s sales are geographically concentrated in three markets: Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America. In 2024, revenue by customer location was €27.8 billion from Europe (40.2% of total), €17.8 billion from Asia-Pacific (25.7%), and €16.4 billion from North America (23.7%), with smaller contributions from the Middle East at €3.1 billion (4.5%), Latin America at €1.7 billion (2.5%), and other countries at €2.4 billion (3.5%).[43][44]
Its workforce is much more concentrated in Europe than its sales base. Airbus reports 145,203 employees in its “core countries” of France, Germany, Spain and the UK, or about 84.5% of total headcount, versus 10,766 in North America (6.3%), 4,735 in non-core Europe (2.8%), 3,663 in India (2.1%), and 2,894 in Asia Pacific (1.7%); the remaining employees are spread across the Middle East and Africa, Latin America, and Australia and New Zealand. By individual country, France and Germany were the only countries each above 10% of group headcount disclosed in the table, at 59,327 and 59,241 employees respectively.[45][46][47][48][49]
Operationally, Airbus’s industrial footprint is centered on Europe, with commercial aircraft sites in France, Germany, Spain and the UK, while final assembly lines are also located in Mobile, Alabama and Tianjin, China; another paragraph describes commercial aircraft final assembly lines across Toulouse, Hamburg, Mobile, Tianjin and Mirabel, Canada. The group also identifies an Airbus Defence and Space site in Poland, Airbus Atlantic sites in Canada, Morocco, Portugal and Tunisia, and sites across its three operating segments in Brazil, Japan, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Poland, China, Chile, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the wider Asia-Pacific region. Separately, Airbus states that it maintains regional procurement offices in Herndon, Virginia; Bangalore; Singapore; and Beijing.[50][51][52][53][54][10][55] [43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][10][55]
Business segments
Airbus reports three operating segments: Airbus, which includes the Commercial Aircraft business; Helicopters; and Defence and Space. The Airbus/Commercial Aircraft segment covers passenger and freighter aircraft and related services. Helicopters covers civil and military rotorcraft and related services across a broad range of platforms. Defence and Space develops, produces and maintains defence and space products, systems and services, and in 2024 it was organised internally into Air Power, Space Systems and Connected Intelligence.[56][57][58][59]
Based on 2024 reported segment revenue before eliminations, Airbus/Commercial Aircraft was by far the largest segment at about €50.6 billion, or roughly 72% of segment revenue; Helicopters contributed about €7.9 billion, or roughly 11%; and Defence and Space contributed about €12.1 billion, or roughly 17%. Airbus notes that inter-segment sales are eliminated in consolidation, so the segment total exceeds consolidated revenue.[60][61] [56][57][58][59][60][61]
Company history
Airbus emerged from European aerospace cooperation in the late 1960s and was formally launched on 18 December 1970 as a consortium to develop and market commercial aircraft.[62][63] Its first aircraft, the A300, made its maiden flight on 28 October 1972, becoming the world’s first twin-engined widebody commercial aircraft and establishing the basis of Airbus’s commercial jetliner business.[64][65]
Airbus broadened its position in the 1980s with the A320 programme, launched in March 1984 and first flown on 22 February 1987; the aircraft became a defining product for the company and introduced digital fly-by-wire controls on a civil airliner.[66][67][68] The group’s corporate structure changed significantly in 2000, when EADS was formed through the merger of Aerospatiale Matra, DASA and CASA; EADS was renamed Airbus Group in 2014, and in 2017 the company adopted the legal name Airbus SE.[69][70] Another major programme milestone came with the A380’s maiden flight on 27 April 2005, marking Airbus’s entry into the very-large-aircraft segment.[71][72] [62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72]
Sources
Continue your research
From company context to financial detail.
Explore original sources and worldwide fundamental financial data and intelligence with Finbar.
Explore AIRBUS in Finbar ↗