Airbus said on Tuesday that it booked 820 net plane orders last year, a sharp jump from the previous year and its highest level of sales since 2017.

The European aerospace giant also announced 661 plane deliveries to airlines and other clients last year, up from 611 the previous year but below its October target for nearly 700 annual deliveries.

That goal was already short of the 720 deliveries Airbus had forecast at the beginning of 2022, as the world emerged from two years of Covid-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions.

Executives had warned in recent months that it was struggling to get aircraft to clients because suppliers and subcontractors were still suffering from shortages caused by the Covid-19 shutdowns.

But demand has picked up in line with air travel as the pandemic eases, in particular for Airbus’ workhorse A320 jets for short and medium-range flights that make up the bulk of its sales.

It booked a net 516 orders for A320 planes last year, up from 483 the year before.

CEO Guillaume Faury hailed a “significant order intake covering all our aircraft families” and said the company was making progress on ramping production lines back up “to deliver on our backlog.”

Source: Civil Aviation Authority-Qatar