Fun Fact #508 The Flying Giant

 Fun Fact #508 

The Flying Giant

While defense contracting and Space Systems only account for 17%  of Airbus’ revenue it's not from a lack of trying as they currently rank as the 14th largest defense contractor in the world. The current company can trace its history back to 1970 as Airbus Industrie GIE consortium. Since then it has expanded into several markets. 

Then things changed in 2000 when EADs was formed and acquired Airbus Industrie GIE before it changed its own name to Airbus SE in 2015. The logo between Airbus Industrie and Airbus SE was merged and is currently shared. 

In 2023 commercial Craft made up 72% of Airbus’ revenue which is no surprise. But what you may not be aware of is that Eurocopter was a subsidiary of one of the founding companies of Airbus resulting in Helicopters accounting for 11% of Airbus’ Revenue. Today Airbus is the largest player in the Turbine Helicopter industry in terms of both sales and deliveries. 

Image of an Airbus A320 in flight –the company's best selling Airliner. Photo by Laurent Errera from L’Union, France.