Airbus Adds Galileo Satellites and Medical Helicopters as Nine-Month Revenue Hits EUR 50.6 Billion
Published on 11/08/2026 at 07:11 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Airbus padded its order book on several fronts in late October, winning a fresh European Space Agency mandate for two more Galileo navigation satellites while logging helicopter, narrowbody and training deals across three continents. The burst of activity came alongside nine-month figures that kept the group's full-year guidance exactly where it stood before.
The ESA instruction, dated 27 October, builds on an existing six-satellite order for the second-generation Galileo constellation. Airbus disclosed no contract value for the additional pair.
Medical and airline customers sign up
Helicopter buyers were just as busy. Boston MedFlight ordered three H145 rotorcraft on 27 October for its air-medical fleet, lifting its cumulative H145 purchases from Airbus to twelve. A day earlier, Life Flight Network booked five H135s for emergency medical missions, taking its total H135 tally to eight.
On the fixed-wing side, Atlantic Airways placed a firm order on 27 October for two more A320neo jets. Airbus said the deal underpins the carrier's plan to move to an all-A320neo fleet. The manufacturer also formalised a services joint venture with Air France on 28 October, with each partner holding 50%. The entity, Alpha Component Solutions and run with Air France-KLM, will handle component support for the A350, covering more than 500 aircraft under the agreed scope.
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Training network widens in India
Pilot development also featured. Airbus and Blue Angels Air signed an agreement on Thursday to deliver ab initio pilot training for the Indian market, with Blue Angels Air offering the programme inside the Airbus Flight Academy network. Digital training got a lift as well: Skywise, the group's digital services company, added Airbus solutions to its portfolio on Monday, including the MATe Suite, the Virtual Procedure Trainer and Flight eLearning — an extension that sits alongside Skywise's existing offering.
Unmanned systems delivered another win. Airbus reported on Tuesday that the vertical take-off and landing variant of its U010 Aliaca drone had been qualified, clearing the way for the French defence procurement agency DGA to bring it into service under the SMDM contract. That order covers 34 systems, eight of them in the VTOL configuration.
October deliveries keep the 870 target in view
Commercial output stayed on track. Airbus handed over 74 airliners to 45 customers in October, according to a Reuters report, bringing the January-to-October total to 621 aircraft — a 6.2% increase on the same period a year earlier. Gross orders for the month reached 202, taking the year-to-date gross figure to 1,376 jets.
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For the first nine months of 2026, Airbus posted revenue of EUR 50.6 billion and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of EUR 4.5 billion. Guidance for the year was left untouched: roughly 870 commercial aircraft deliveries, an adjusted EBIT of about EUR 7.5 billion and free cash flow before customer financing of around EUR 4.5 billion.
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