Airbus Locks In 500-Aircraft Services Backlog With New Alpha Component Solutions Venture
Published on 11/08/2026 at 04:24 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Airbus and Air France have pooled their component-support operations for the A350 into a new 50-50 joint venture, Alpha Component Solutions, established on 28 October. The business, run in partnership with Air France-KLM, arrives with contracts already covering more than 500 aircraft — handing the planemaker a guaranteed service base from day one.
The tie-up sits alongside a broader push into training and digital services. Skywise, Airbus's digital services arm, added several flight-training products to its portfolio on Monday, among them the MATe Suite, the Virtual Procedure Trainer and Flight eLearning. On the pilot-training front, Airbus and Blue Angels Air signed an agreement on Thursday to deliver ab initio pilot instruction for the Indian market, with Blue Angels Air set to offer the programme within the Airbus Flight Academy network.
October Deliveries and Order Book
Commercial momentum held up through the autumn. Airbus handed over 74 airliners to 45 customers in October, according to a Reuters report, taking deliveries for January through October to 621 aircraft — a 6.2 percent increase on the same period a year earlier. Gross orders reached 202 in October, bringing the year-to-date tally to 1,376 jets.
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Those figures feed into a full-year target the group reaffirmed on 28 October: roughly 870 commercial aircraft deliveries for 2026. Airbus also reiterated guidance for adjusted operating earnings of about EUR 7.5 billion and free cash flow before customer financing of around EUR 4.5 billion.
For the first nine months of 2026, the company reported revenue of EUR 50.6 billion and adjusted operating profit of EUR 4.5 billion.
Defence, Space and Helicopter Wins
Order intake spanned several divisions. The European Space Agency placed a contract on 27 October for two additional second-generation Galileo satellites, adding to an existing order for six. The same day, Atlantic Airways signed a firm order for two A320neo aircraft, while Boston MedFlight booked three H145 helicopters with Airbus Helicopters — lifting its total H145 purchases to twelve, according to the company.
On the unmanned side, Airbus said Tuesday that the vertical take-off and landing version of its U010 Aliaca drone had been qualified. France's DGA procurement agency cleared the way for the system's entry into service under the SMDM contract, which covers 34 systems, eight of them in this configuration.
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