Airbus edges towards 2023 delivery goal after 18% increase in Oct

PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus needs to deliver 161 aircraft in the last two months of the year to reach its full-year delivery target, fractionally below the performance seen in the closing stages of last year, company data showed on Tuesday.

In a monthly bulletin, the planemaker confirmed it had delivered 71 aircraft in October, up 18% from the same month last year and bringing the total for the first 10 months to 559 jets, as earlier reported by Reuters.

In the final two months of 2022, Airbus delivered 166 jets.

Orders so far this year have reached 1,399 aircraft or a net total of 1,334 units after cancellations, Airbus said.

Airbus reports nine-month results on Wednesday.

Agency Partners analyst Sash Tusa wrote in a note that the company was not expected to change its full-year delivery target of 720 aircraft despite pressure on supplies of Pratt & Whitney engines.

Airbus last year lowered and eventually abandoned its delivery goal due to supply constraints and started 2023 on a weak note, before deliveries accelerated over the summer.

On Monday, leasing company Air Lease questioned whether Airbus or Boeing would meet their delivery goals - in the case of Airbus, because of concerns that scarce engines would get diverted to help airlines keep existing planes flying.

Airbus has said its priority is to support its production.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Mark Potter)