Airbus - R&D expenditure 2010-2020

Airbus Division's research and development (R&D) efforts amounted to over 2.4 billion euros in the fiscal year of 2020. The company steadily keeps its investment in R&D high enough to sustain a competitive position in the international aircraft manufacturing market.

Overview of Airbus

Airbus is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of the Airbus Group, which was known as EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company) prior to the group's restructuring in January 2014. The company operates with various manufacturing assembly spaces across European cities, such as in Toulouse, Hamburg, and Seville. Additionally, Airbus Group also owns production facilities in Montreal, Canada and Tianjin, China. Airbus demonstrated a promising growth pattern over the recent years. From 2007 to 2019, in terms of global revenue, Airbus Group increased its revenue streams around 80 percent, reaching over 70 billion euros in 2019. However, in 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Airbus' revenue dropped to only 50 billion U.S. dollars. Airbus manufactures the world’s largest passenger airliner, namely Airbus A380. As of December 31, 2020, Airbus delivered 118 type A380 aircraft to Emirates airline. Most of Airbus aircraft fleet is powered by CFMA International manufactured engines. In addition to aircraft manufacturing, the Airbus Group also manufactures helicopters under Airbus Helicopters. In 2019, Airbus Helicopters generated just over 6.2 billion euros in revenue.

Rotorcraft industry

Airbus Helicopters is the leading helicopter manufacturer in terms of market share in 2020, with 48 percent. Other leading helicopter manufacturers include Leonardo Helicopters, Bell Helicopters, Russian Helicopters and Sikorsky. Rotorcraft manufacturing grew rapidly over the recent decades since rotorcrafts perform distinctive tasks compared to conventional airplanes. The size of the global helicopter market is forecasted to grow by roughly 20 billion U.S. dollars in less than a decade, reaching over 68 billion U.S. dollars by 2026. There are two main types of helicopters by engine, piston and turbine. In 2019, there were over 9,800 piston helicopters for commercial use worldwide.