(Bloomberg) -- Airbus SE notched an improvement in February aircraft deliveries from January’s weak showing, a sign of progress in coping with supplier challenges that have hindered output at the European planemaker.

The company likely delivered 35 to 39 jetliners last month, based on estimates from aviation consultancy Cirium Ascend. Its January total of 25 fell below Boeing Co.’s — marking a rare loss to its US rival in the closely-watched metric.

Airbus declined to comment ahead of monthly order-and-delivery figures set to be released on Friday. The company has been struggling with a shortage of engines and the knock-on effect of troubles at a major supplier of structural parts, Spirit Aerosystems Holdings Inc.

Shares of Toulouse, France-based Airbus gained as much as 4.2% on Monday, for their biggest gain in three months, amid a broad advance for aerospace and defense manufacturers in the region.

While February marks an improvement, a two-month total of as many as 64 aircraft would still amount to the slowest start of a year for Airbus since 2021, when its factories were in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Airbus shares fell last month when Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury said issues at Spirit would affect production of its A350 twin-aisle and A220 single-aisle jets in the first months of the year. This will slow the ramp-up of the programs, while the separate engine shortage is hurting output of the planemaker’s top-selling A320 narrowbody family. 

The A320’s two engine suppliers, RTX Corp. and CFM International, have both had to redesign coated-metal turbine parts that have worn out prematurely in high temperatures. 

The issues are notable with CFM, owned by General Electric Co. and Safran SA, and have led to so-called gliders, or fully built planes that are missing engines and can’t be delivered, Faury said last month.  

Faury said then that Airbus expects to deliver fewer aircraft in the first quarter of 2025 than a year earlier, adding that the situation should “normalize” in the second half.

Airbus is buying back so-called work packages on the A220 and A350 as most of Spirit is reabsorbed into its former owner, Boeing — but the European company won’t gain control of its share of the parts manufacturing until July.

The world’s largest planemaker set a goal of handing over 820 aircraft this year, an increase from 2024 but below the pre-Covid peak of 863 planes in 2019. Last year, Airbus’s January-February output totaled 79 jets.

“Airbus have to pick up pace quickly if they are to achieve 820,” said Rob Morris, Cirium Ascend’s global head of consultancy. 

Monthly deliveries are a closely watched metric for the planemaking duopoly because the bulk of the payment for an aircraft is released at its handover.

Production typically starts slowly for Airbus and picks up pace through the year. The first two months’ results were likely baked into the the forecast the company made on Feb. 20, Morris said. 

“I can’t believe that Airbus would issue guidance just a couple of weeks ago that isn’t achievable,” he said. 

(Adds timing of monthly deliveries report; updates shares)

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