Airbus Helicopters profit falls 10% in first nine months
Airbus Helicopters’ adjusted EBIT fell 10% to €445m in the first nine months of 2026 due to less favourable delivery mix despite the segment delivering 226 helicopters. The company’s order backlog rose 14% year-over-year to 1,122 units.
The manufacturer’s revenue was broadly stable at €5.6bn (against €5.6bn a year earlier). Adjusted EBIT, which was also the division’s reported EBIT, was €445m against €495m, a margin of about 7.9%.
Helicopters accounted for about 11% of the Airbus’ total revenue of €50.6bn and about 10% of group adjusted EBIT of €4.5bn.
“In the nine months, we delivered 226 helicopters, eight more than in the [first] nine months [of] 2025,” said CEO Guillaume Faury on the earnings call.
The third quarter was weaker than the nine-month figures. Helicopters revenue was flat at €1.96bn (€1.96bn a year earlier), while adjusted EBIT fell 17% to €205m from €246m, a margin of about 10.4% against 12.6%.
Net orders rose 2% to 311 units from 306, and the backlog stood at 1,122 units at the end of September, against 981 a year earlier. “Overall, we continue to see good momentum in both the civil and military markets and remain fully focused on delivering on expectations,” said Faury.
“We celebrated the official start of the series production of the H140 in Germany,” he added. The first airframe was manufactured on the newly set up assembly line earlier in the quarter.
Looking to the fourth quarter, chief financial officer Thomas Toepfer said he does not expect a big change in the combined performance of the helicopters, defence and space segments. “I would not put in a big uplift, so you can take them as broadly stable or a slight uplift,” he said.
Airbus left its 2026 group guidance unchanged at about 870 commercial aircraft deliveries, adjusted EBIT of about €7.5bn and free cash flow before customer financing of about €4.5bn. The guidance contains no separate helicopter target.
Meanwhile, last month Milestone Aviation Group sold three Airbus H225 helicopters (pictured top) to Austria-based operator Kitz-Air for deployment on fire-fighting missions.
