Airbus is pushing hard as the year 2025 comes to an end. The European plan maker ended November with 72 deliveries, totaling $657 for the year. In order to achieve its goal of 820 aircraft deliveries this year, it left a final balance of 133 to go. With such an ambitious goal, the drive to maximize output is reaching its climax, which led to December 19th, when a total of 10 A321neos were handed off to customers in one day.

As the days of December continue to count down, the company has revised its goal to 790, but it still needs a hundred deliveries to achieve that target as well. Airbus only delivered 30 jets in the first two weeks of December. That leaves several dozen still to go for the manufacturer to achieve its revised target.

Down To The Wire

The December 19th surge comes as the manufacturer faces a steep challenge to meet its revised 2025 goal of 790 aircraft by the end of the year. Only a day before, on December 18, Airbus celebrated the delivery of its 800th aircraft assembled at its Tianjin, China facility—an A321neo handed over to Air China. Deliveries originated from all the major final assembly lines in Hamburg (XFW), Tianjin (TSN), and Toulouse (TLS), but none from the US plant in Mobile, Alabama.

CEO Guillaume Faury referred to November as a weak month in manufacturing output. Reuters reported that the manufacturer discovered panel defects with its A320 suppliers, which slowed down assembly line progress. According to Reuters, this also led to some customers being reluctant to take delivery until they were confident that the issue was resolved or there was a satisfactory plan in place to remedy the issue.

Reuters quoted industry analyst Rob Morris, who commented on the likely unrealistic nature of Airbus’ annual goal, simply saying:

« If they are to deliver another 104 aircraft to achieve the restated guidance of around 790, that seems like a very steep challenge at this point in the month.”

The Holiday Hail Mary

The deliveries of December 19th include one of the company’s best customers, Wizz Air, which is currently working towards an all A321neo fleet transition by 2033. The company took delivery of three jets on the historic day on top of its 250th A320 aircraft earlier this month. The aircraft from Tianjin, which was the factory’s 800th delivery, went to Air China along with two other aircraft on that day. As one of China’s “big three” airlines, the carrier has plans for hundreds more as well.

IndiGo was also included on the list; the airline is currently one of the largest operators of the type in the world. Singapore-based Scoot received one, which replaces an older A320ceo and joins 15 other A321neos it owns. Below are the recently delivered jets according to Airports and Plane Spotting via Facebook:

China Airlines of Taiwan also took delivery of one A321neo, which is part of a larger order for eight more and five A350-900 widebody jets as well. Lastly, we have AirAsia, which has frequently converted A320neo orders to larger A321neo variants in recent history.

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Making the World’s Best-Selling Jetliner

The Tianjin plant in China and the Mobile plant in the United States both received expansions of their capacity in October 2025. The engine plant will achieve full capacity of its expanded facilities early next year as part of the “in China, for China” manufacturing strategy. The plant is on its second expansion update, with the first renovation being completed in 2022. The facility now accounts for roughly 20% of Airbus global production, and 25% of Chinese-made jets are sent to international customers.

Airbus has also expressed its intention to open a second assembly line in the United States. As with the Chinese plant, this factory is intended to provide a greater capacity in proximity to customers in North America. This factory also hosts a dedicated A220 regional jet production line. With tax and tariff challenges under the Donald Trump administration in the United States, investing in this factory has become more beneficial for Airbus to fulfill orders to customers in North America without political hang-ups.