Hello everybody, thank you for joining us today, and welcome to this Airbus Pre-Q4 2024 Call. As a reminder, we implemented last year a new pre-quarter communication practice following the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) recommendation released on May 29, 2024. This call is planned to last around 10 minutes, and it does not include Q and A. It will remain accessible on our investor website until our full year 2024 earnings are released. Throughout this call, I will be making forward-looking statements. I invite you to refer to our Safe Harbor Statement that appears in our most recent disclosure presentation slides, published on October 30, 2024. That Safe Harbor Statement applies to this call as well. Please read it carefully. The purpose of this call is to assist you in the financial modeling of Airbus Q4 2024 financial performance.
Our quarterly closing and audit processes are underway, and as such, we will only refer to information that has already been disclosed or is otherwise publicly available in the market. Any updates to our guidance or forecast would be communicated through a formal announcement. Our quiet period begins on January 30, 2025, and our full year 2024 earnings release is scheduled on February 20, 2025, in the morning at 7:30 A.M. CET. Let's now start with the mechanical elements impacting our profitability on a year on year comparison for the quarter, and to make it clear, all the statements I will be making refer to Q4 2024 versus Q4 2023, starting with our commercial aircraft business and with the usual building blocks.
On volume mix, we delivered 269 aircraft in Q4 2024 versus 247 in Q4 2023, meaning plus 22 aircraft versus the previous year Q4, thereof plus three A220, plus 26 A320 Family, and minus seven A350. Regarding the A320 Family, please note that in Q4 2024, we recorded a more favorable mix of deliveries versus Q4 2023. Now, regarding the A350, please note that in Q4 2024, we delivered seven aircraft less versus Q4 2023. This decrease in deliveries should result in a mechanical impact on fixed cost absorption for the program. Moving on to FX and as per the Q3 2024 disclosure. Check on Slide 18. A $0.01 deterioration was forecast in the average blended rates for forward and Euro conversion for Q4 2024, 1.21 in Q4 2024 versus 1.20 in Q4 2023.
As a reminder, the rule of thumb to a one cent change in hedge rates results in a plus minus EUR 150 million for the full year at present delivery rates, depending on the portfolio volume and direction of the rate movement. Concerning the currency effect, let me note that in Q4 2024, we observed a favorable average US Dollar Euro spot rate. However, we expect the upside from the open exposure to be limited and to be offset by the deterioration in the quarter to quarter hedge rate. No more, no less. When it comes to inflation, we have told you the impact for the full year in 2024 is expected to be slightly less than in 2023, which, for the record, was about a couple of hundred million EUR headwinds.
In Q4 2024, we expect the impact to be slightly higher versus previous quarters this year, in accordance with the higher volume of deliveries recorded at the end of the year. Coming now to the impact of recruitment, we have explained since the beginning of 2024 that the onboarding and qualification of skilled workforce to prepare the ramp-up results in a temporary overstaffing. As a result of our efforts to reduce the pace of recruitment, we expect our headcount figures to be roughly stable versus Q3 2024. Therefore, we expect the quarter to quarter headwinds in Q4 2024 to be in the same order of magnitude as in the last quarter. Moving on to the LEAD initiative, which we announced last summer, I would like to recall that it has been designed for the purpose of prioritizing our activities to focus on what matters most.
As explained during the nine-month 2024 earnings release, we expect this initiative to have a positive effect of a couple of hundred EUR in full year 2024. The Q4 amount is expected to be in line with the previous quarter, and we expect this to be largely reflected in our R&D expenses. Last but not least, we did not record any non-recurring element for our commercial aircraft business in Q4 2023. Let's now look at the performance in the divisions. Starting with Airbus Helicopters, we observed an improvement on deliveries as compared to Q4 last year, as well as a strong performance on services. With regards to Airbus Defence and Space, as a reminder, as stated in our financial statement of full year 2023, a charge of 0.2 billion EUR was recorded in Q4 2023 to reflect updates of contract estimates at completion, the so-called EAC.
Only a part of this charge should be normalized, roughly two-thirds, as explained during our full year 2023 earnings release. With regard to 2024, we mentioned during our last earnings release that the technical assessment of one major space program was yet to be finalized. We are progressing as we speak, and we expect to be in a position to provide an update during the full year 2024 earnings release. Last but not least, we continue to progress in the assessment of the potential financial impact of the workforce adaptation plan for Airbus Defence and Space announced in October. As mentioned in our nine-month 2024 release, a restructuring provision will be recognized once necessary conditions are fulfilled. In the meantime, please note that this type of provision is usually treated as an adjustment. Now, I will briefly address some elements of the free cash flow before customer financing.
We delivered a higher number of commercial aircraft and helicopters in Q4 2024 versus Q4 2023, which positively contributes to the cash generation. During the nine-month 2024 earnings release, we mentioned that we were sitting on high inventories, hence, the delivery performance in Q4 2024 had a mechanical impact on our inventory levels. And on the order front, we continued to observe a good momentum in all divisions in Q4 2024, in particular on both Airbus Defence and Space and Airbus Helicopters. With this, I would like to end this pre-Q4 call. We remind you that starting from Thursday morning, we enter into a quiet period, and therefore we will not be able to answer any questions concerning the Q4 2024 performance before our results are announced on February 20, 2025, which, as you recall, will be in the morning. Thank you again, and speak to you soon.