Airbus SE

What does Airbus own?
Airbus SE owns three operating divisions: Airbus Commercial Aircraft, Airbus Helicopters, and Airbus Defence and Space. The company also owns Satair, an aftermarket parts distribution subsidiary based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Other brands include Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ) for business aviation and Airbus UpNext for technology demonstration. Airbus reported consolidated revenues of €73.4 billion in fiscal 2025.

Is Airbus publicly traded?
Yes. Airbus SE trades on Euronext Paris under ticker AIR. The company is also listed on stock exchanges in Frankfurt, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Bilbao. Airbus is a component of the CAC 40 index. The company is a Societas Europaea (SE), a European public limited-liability company, with its legal domicile in Leiden, Netherlands.

Who founded Airbus?
Airbus was not founded by a single individual. It was established on December 18, 1970, as Airbus Industrie GIE, a consortium of European aerospace companies. The founding partners were Aérospatiale of France and Deutsche Airbus of West Germany, each holding 50%. CASA of Spain joined in 1971 with 4.2%, and British Aerospace joined in 1979 with 20%. Key individuals in Airbus's creation included Roger Béteille, Franz-Josef Strauss, and Felix Kracht.

Where is Airbus headquartered?
Airbus has its operational headquarters in Toulouse, France, where its main commercial aircraft final assembly lines and executive offices are located. The company's legal domicile is in Leiden, Netherlands, with its registered address at Mendelweg 30, 2333 CS Leiden. Airbus SE is registered with the Dutch Commercial Register under number 24288945. Final assembly lines also operate in Hamburg (Germany), Mobile (Alabama, USA), and Tianjin (China).

How much revenue does Airbus generate?
Airbus reported consolidated revenues of €73.4 billion in fiscal 2025, a 6% increase from €69.2 billion in fiscal 2024. The Commercial Aircraft segment generated €52.6 billion, Airbus Helicopters generated €9.0 billion, and Airbus Defence and Space generated €13.4 billion. Net income was €5,221 million, and free cash flow was €4.8 billion. The order backlog stood at €618.8 billion as of December 31, 2025.

How many employees does Airbus have?
Airbus employed 165,294 people as of December 31, 2025, up from 156,921 at the end of fiscal 2024. The workforce is distributed across the company's operations in Europe, the United States, China, and other countries. The company's revenues reached €73 billion in 2025, up from €24 billion in 2000, with employee count rising from approximately 89,000 to 165,000 over the same period.

What is Airbus's market position?
Airbus is one of two dominant global manufacturers of large commercial aircraft, competing with Boeing in a duopoly. In 2025, Airbus delivered 793 commercial aircraft and received 889 net orders, with a backlog of 8,754 aircraft. Airbus Helicopters is the market leader in civil rotorcraft by deliveries. Airbus Defence and Space is a major European defense contractor. The company's order backlog of €618.8 billion provides years of revenue visibility.

Airbus originated from a collaborative effort among European aerospace firms to compete with American manufacturers including Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, and Lockheed. By the mid-1960s, European aircraft manufacturers held only about 10% of the global commercial aircraft market. Individual European companies lacked the financial resources to develop large aircraft independently.

In 1965, France and West Germany began discussions on a joint effort to develop a high-capacity, short-haul transport. At that year's Paris Air Show, major European airlines outlined requirements for a new aircraft capable of carrying 100 or more passengers over short to medium ranges at low cost. The word "airbus" was a generic aviation term for a larger commercial aircraft, acceptable in multiple languages including French.

Hawker Siddeley, Breguet Aviation, and Nord Aviation collaborated on the HBN 100 concept, a wide-body, twin-engine, 260-seat aircraft that became the foundation of the project. In 1966, officials announced that Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) of France and Deutsche Airbus of West Germany would lead development, with Hawker Siddeley of the UK and CASA of Spain joining as partners.

Airbus Industrie was officially created as a Groupement d'Intérêt Économique (GIE) on December 18, 1970. France's Aérospatiale and West Germany's Deutsche Airbus each took a 50% stake. The headquarters were initially in Paris, moving to Toulouse in January 1974. Franz-Josef Strauss, the Bavarian minister-president, was appointed president and chairman of the supervisory board. Spain's CASA joined the consortium in 1971 with a 4.2% stake, and British Aerospace joined in 1979 with a 20% stake, adjusting the ownership split to 37.9% each for France and Germany, 20% for the UK, and 4.2% for Spain.

The first Airbus aircraft, the A300B1, performed its maiden flight on October 28, 1972, in Toulouse. The A300 was the world's first twin-engine wide-body commercial aircraft. Captain Max Fischl and First Officer Bernard Ziegler were at the controls. The flight lasted 1 hour and 25 minutes. The A300 entered commercial service with Air France in May 1974.

Roger Béteille, one of the key architects of Airbus, insisted that English be the working language and that measurements use non-metric units, since most airlines already operated US-built aircraft. This decision made Airbus products more accessible to global airlines and established English as the company's operational language.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, Airbus expanded its product family. The A310, A320 (launched in 1984, entered service 1988), A330, and A340 widened the product range. The A320 introduced fly-by-wire technology to commercial aviation, a significant innovation that became standard across the industry.

In 2000, the Airbus partners agreed to restructure the consortium into a single integrated company. EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company) was formed in July 2000 through the merger of Aérospatiale-Matra, DASA (DaimlerChrysler Aerospace), and CASA. BAE Systems sold its 20% Airbus stake to EADS in October 2006, making Airbus a wholly owned EADS subsidiary.

The A380, the world's largest passenger aircraft, entered service in 2007 with Singapore Airlines. Production of the A380 ended in 2021 after 251 deliveries, as airlines shifted toward smaller, more fuel-efficient twin-engine aircraft.

EADS was reorganized and renamed Airbus Group in January 2014, and then simplified to Airbus SE in July 2017, reflecting the company's focus on its core aerospace business. The restructuring consolidated the commercial aircraft, helicopter, and defense and space divisions under a single corporate identity.

In 2025, Airbus delivered 793 commercial aircraft, comprising 93 A220s, 607 A320 Family, 36 A330s, and 57 A350s. The company received 889 net orders, bringing the total backlog to 8,754 aircraft. Airbus also completed the acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems' Airbus-related operations as part of a broader industry restructuring.

Airbus has committed to supporting the aviation industry's goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The company is developing hydrogen-powered aircraft through its ZEROe program, targeting a commercial hydrogen-powered aircraft entry into service by 2035. Airbus is also investing in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) compatibility across its aircraft fleet.

The company's FY2025 annual review reports on health and safety performance, environmental metrics, and social initiatives. Airbus publishes sustainability information aligned with GRI standards. The company has set Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions reduction targets and is developing Scope 3 targets covering aircraft operations, which represent the largest portion of its carbon footprint.

Airbus's helicopter and defense businesses face ethical scrutiny related to military exports. The company has been subject to export controls and government oversight on defense sales, particularly for weapons systems and military aircraft sold to non-NATO countries. Airbus has implemented compliance programs to manage these risks.

• CAC 40 Component: Airbus SE is a component of the CAC 40 index, representing the largest companies on Euronext Paris by market capitalization.
• Record FY2025 Performance: Airbus achieved record revenues, EBIT, and net income in fiscal 2025, with consolidated revenues of €73.4 billion and net income of €5,221 million.
• A350 Certification and Service: The A350, launched in 2015, has become one of the most successful wide-body programs, with over 1,000 orders and the A350F freighter variant under development.
• A320neo Family Success: The A320neo family has accumulated over 10,000 orders since launch, making it one of the best-selling commercial aircraft families in history.

Airbus has faced several significant controversies. In 2020, Airbus agreed to a record €3.6 billion settlement with French, UK, and US authorities to resolve corruption investigations related to bribery and corruption in aircraft sales. The settlements covered the use of middlemen in commercial aircraft sales and irregularities in defense and security exports. The case was one of the largest corporate corruption settlements in European history.

The A400M military transport program has experienced significant cost overruns and technical problems since its development. Several participating nations have negotiated price reductions and delivery schedule adjustments. The program has generated ongoing financial charges for Airbus.

Supply chain constraints have repeatedly forced Airbus to revise production rate targets downward. Engine availability from CFM International and Pratt and Whitney has been a particular bottleneck for A320neo family production. These constraints have frustrated airlines waiting for aircraft deliveries.

The Spirit AeroSystems acquisition in 2025 involved complex negotiations with Boeing and regulatory authorities, as Spirit supplied components to both Airbus and Boeing. The transaction required careful separation of Airbus-related and Boeing-related operations.