PARIS, April 3 (Reuters) – Airbus delivered 142 aircraft in the first quarter, up 12% from the same period last year, industry sources said.

Airbus declined to comment.

The tally restored deliveries to the same level seen in the first quarter of 2022, following a slow start to 2023, but fell about half a dozen planes short of the European planemaker’s initial expectations for the quarter, the sources said.

Airbus does not publish quarterly delivery targets but has said it is targeting 800 deliveries for 2024.

Some deliveries of wide-body jets are being delayed by a shortage of seats, while Airbus has also notified customers of delays in deliveries to the narrow-body A321.

Airbus nonetheless remains the dominant supplier of workhorse narrow-body jets after regulators capped output of the competing Boeing 737 following a door-plug blowout.

Airbus is due to give a delivery update on April 9.

Photo Rob Vogelaar