Airbus's operating performance $AIR (-1,46%) Airbus shows a robust upward trend in the first nine months of 2026, driven by continued strong demand across the entire portfolio. While commercial deliveries and revenue are rising, the operating environment remains marked by geopolitical tensions and logistical challenges. Management is consistently driving forward its industrial ramp-up plans and confirms the full-year forecast for the current fiscal year.

​📊 THE HARD FACTS (Figures & Key Metrics)

​Revenue:

€50.65 billion (+7% YoY)

​Net Income:

€3.59 billion (+36% YoY)

​Earnings Per Share (EPS):

€4.54 (+36% YoY)

​Operating Margin:

9.0% (+193 basis points YoY)

​Free Cash Flow: -€1.1 billion (previously 2026)

​Outlook (Guidance): Delivery of approximately 870 commercial aircraft, adjusted EBIT of approximately €7.5 billion, and free cash flow before customer financing of approximately €4.5 billion

​🎯 CONTEXT & HIGHLIGHTS (What Really Matters)

​Segment Performance: The core Airbus division increased its revenue to 36.67 billion euros, driven by 547 commercial aircraft delivered (compared to 507 in the same period last year). Airbus Defence and Space also posted a significant increase in revenue to €9.34 billion, as well as a massive order intake of €11.47 billion.

​Strategic Milestones: The integration of acquired manufacturing packages is progressing, accompanied by strategic portfolio expansions in cybersecurity and services, such as the acquisition of Quarkslab.

​Macro & Tailwinds/Headwinds: Business performance faced noticeable headwinds from a weaker U.S. dollar against the euro, which was partially offset by operational efficiency programs and robust volumes.

​🔍 OUTLOOK & RISKS (Looking Ahead)

​The Opportunity: The order books, with a record order backlog of over 9,300 commercial aircraft, provide planning certainty for the coming years.

​The Risk: Persistent supply chain bottlenecks, global trade policy uncertainties, and potential delays in the industrial ramp-up of production rates remain critical factors to monitor.

​💡 SHAREHOLDER CONCLUSION

​A strong nine-month report that underscores the Group’s operational strength, even though the cyclical build-up of cash flow remains challenging due to the upcoming final delivery spurt in the fourth quarter.

Hop on the plane $AIR (-1,46%)

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Airbus continues to widen its competitive moat: Eutelsat has ordered 229 additional OneWeb satellites. On top of that, there are new orders for the A320neo and A330neo. Airbus doesn’t just sell aircraft—it offers complete aerospace solutions backed by decades of order backlogs.

Execution remains crucial. Production, supply chains, and cash flow must keep pace with new orders.

My assessment: The stock price isn’t cheap. But the company’s quality, order backlog, and strategic importance justify keeping Airbus on the watch list for the long term.

I myself have been a shareholder since April 30, 2020, with $AIR (-1,46%) and am well in the black.

A pilot I’ve been following on social media since a flight to New York (pilotalexander) also said that there’s only one real airplane, and that’s an Airbus. I don’t know anyone who feels safer in a Boeing 😉

Reducing concentration risk a bit. I’ll make another, more significant reduction early next year, once the three-year holding period for the employee shares is over. Airbus still accounts for 17.5% of my portfolio.

As we do every Sunday, here are the top news stories from the past week.

Tuesday:

$AIR (-1,46%) Airbus and $BA (-1,15%) Boeing are delivering more aircraft, though Airbus’s lead is shrinking. Among other orders, Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Air ordered six new A350-1000 aircraft.

https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/industrie/flugzeugbau-airbus-und-boeing-ueberraschen-mit-lieferzahlen/100231274.html

Wednesday:

Following somewhat mixed results from $TSLA (+2,07%) Tesla—which didn’t go over so well on the stock market—Musk is fueling rumors of a possible merger between $SPCX (+2,15%) SpaceX and Tesla. It wouldn’t be the first time Musk has merged his companies …

https://www.handelsblatt.com/technik/it-internet/elon-musk-es-gibt-immer-mehr-ueberschneidungen-zwischen-tesla-und-spacex/100240047.html

$GOOGL (+2,63%) Alphabet reported earnings above expectations but increased its investments to a new record level. In Q2, revenue rose 24% to $120 billion. Profit came in at an incredible $112 billion, primarily due to paper gains from its stakes in SpaceX and Anthropic. Alphabet also plans to invest nearly $200 billion in AI infrastructure. This means a single corporation is investing more than the German government is through its special fund. As a result, overall cash flow was negative, which didn’t go over well on the stock market.

https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/google-cloud-ki-zahlen-investitionen-100.html

Thursday:

$ROP (+0,11%) Roche reported a 2% decline in revenue for the first half of the year, primarily due to negative currency effects. On a currency-adjusted basis, revenue would have grown by 6%. However, the Swiss franc has continued to appreciate. At 23.6 billion Swiss francs, the pharmaceuticals division remains the most important business segment, ahead of diagnostics (6.7 billion Swiss francs).

https://www.finanzen.net/nachricht/aktien/gegenwind-roche-aktie-im-blick-wechselkurse-lasten-auf-ergebnis-15816172

$INTC (-0,25%) Intel is benefiting from the AI boom and increased its quarterly revenue by 25%. At $16.1 billion, revenue was $1.5 billion above expectations. Profit was even twice as high as expected.

https://www.stern.de/digital/chip-konzern--ki-boom-treibt-intel-ueber-wall-street-erwartungen-38003812.html?utm_source=startupinsider.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=corgi-verdreifacht-bewertung-in-drei-monaten-auf-4-mrd-usd&_bhlid=ca4a188dfb09cd82bef6ce72d66fd763172d1d18

Friday:

VW’s profit $VOW (-2,36%) VW plummeted again to 1.5 billion euros, down from 2.3 billion euros the previous year. VW’s revenue rose by 2%. For the full year, VW expects revenue to decline by 1–3%.

https://de.finance.yahoo.com/nachrichten/nettogewinn-volkswagen-zweiten-quartal-um-062011552.html

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Hey everyone, I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

My core holdings consist of ETFs, supplemented by individual stocks like Airbus and TotalEnergies, which are intended to counterbalance the overweighting of U.S. and tech stocks in the ETFs.

$TTE (+1,96%) I bought these before the Iran crisis as stocks offering a reliable dividend and a favorable valuation, based on the investment thesis that they would grow steadily due to the long-term shift toward renewable energy.

$AIR (-1,46%) I built up this position due to a price pullback and the thesis that Europe is gaining structural importance in the aerospace and defense sectors, driven in part by rising European defense spending and growing strategic independence from the U.S. The position has since grown to about 21% of my portfolio, which I accept as a deliberate concentration risk, as I remain convinced of the thesis.

$NVDA (-2%) And $BTC (-0,72%) I’m simply keeping this unchanged, as I currently see no reason to adjust it, and the $MSFT (+0,53%) warrants are just a bit of fun.

$AIR (-1,46%)
$7012 (+0,16%)

According to a company press release, Airbus signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Japanese conglomerate Kawasaki Heavy Industries on June 26, 2026, to jointly explore the possibilities for a Japanese version of the U950 Eurodrone unmanned aerial system for anti-submarine warfare (ASW).

Japan has been participating in the European four-nation program as an observer since 2023. The program is sponsored by Germany, France, Italy, and Spain and managed by the defense agency OCCAR. India also holds observer status.

The Eurodrone is ideally suited for monitoring vast maritime areas

The Eurodrone, whose maiden flight is scheduled for 2029, features a flight duration of up to 40 hours and a payload capacity of up to 2.3 metric tons. This puts it well ahead of its direct competitors and makes it ideally suited for monitoring vast maritime areas. For Japan, the platform offers the option to supplement its manned anti-submarine fleet highly efficiently and independently with an unmanned system that can be equipped with sonar buoys and torpedoes.

Strengthening European-Japanese Defense Initiatives

In the next step, Airbus and Kawasaki will develop concrete design, development, and marketing options. These include the integration of Japanese sensors and effectors, as well as the definition of industrial work shares for production and maintenance in Japan, to guarantee unrestricted, sovereign use.

The cooperation strengthens the Eurodrone program, deepens European-Japanese defense initiatives, and provides valuable insights for future European naval variants.

Gerhard Heiming

https://esut.de/2026/06/meldungen/72263/airbus-und-kawasaki-wollen-eurodrone-zur-u-boot-jagd-befaehigen/