Very welcome, dear shareholders and attendees to this event on behalf of Airbus and its Board of Directors. I would like to welcome you to our 2025 Annual General Meeting. We appreciate you taking the time to attend this meeting, and we are grateful for your continued interest in Airbus. It is a privilege to be here with my colleagues and to engage with you, our shareholders, in person or remotely. Before we open this meeting, let us watch a short video that shows some of last year's highlights. Firstly, I would like to introduce you to members of the Airbus management team who are with me here on stage. First and foremost, Guillaume Faury, our Chief Executive Officer and the Executive Board member. Guillaume will give an update on Airbus's business in a few moments. As you are aware, Guillaume's board mandate is up for renewal this year.
Thomas Toepfer, our Chief Financial Officer, John Harrison, General Counsel and Head of Airbus Public Affairs. John will act as the Secretary of this meeting, and Julie Kitcher, Chief Sustainability Officer and Head of Communications. Julie will give an update on Airbus's continuing sustainability journey. I would also like to introduce Dr. Doris Höpke, who is seated on the front row of the audience. There she is. Today, we are seeking your approval for Doris Höpke to succeed Claudia Nemath as a non-executive board member. Claudia has been a board member since 2016, and we are very grateful for her strong commitment and for her valuable contribution during these past nine years. A big thank you to Claudia. I will further introduce you to Dr. Doris Höpke later in the meeting, but for now, please join me in warmly welcoming her.
I would also like to introduce two of the company's legal representatives who are with us today: Paul van der Bijl from NotarDutilh, and he's a counsel of the company in the Netherlands, and Édouard Elfet, our internal head of legal corporate affairs. Nico Poole from Ernst & Young from EY, as external auditor of the company, is also present at this meeting. I will now hand over to John Harrison, who will start with the legal formalities. John, please.
Thank you, René. Mr. Chairman, shareholders and attendees, first, I'd like to draw your attention to some practical matters. This meeting is going to be held in English, but we do have simultaneous translations available for your convenience. You have a translation device, and you can choose English, Channel 1; French, Channel 2; German, Channel 3; Spanish, Channel 4; and Dutch, Channel 5. Please, the use of mobile phones and recording devices is prohibited, and these devices must be switched off from now on. A live webcast is available for this meeting until the end of the presentations, and shareholders requested to attend this meeting online can follow the entire meeting online. The total number of issued shares and of voting rights present or represented will now be shown on the screen.
In accordance with Dutch law requirements and the company's articles of association, we've complied with all convening formalities. The date of the AGM was published online on the 4th of February, 2025. A month later, on the 4th of March, a convening notice including the agenda and registration process to attend was also published online, along with other relevant documents for the AGM. This information was also available to our registered office. All this means that this AGM has been legally convened and can validly decide on all matters on the agenda. I'll briefly go through the agenda, which is now shown on the screen. We'll first brief you on the company's business, financials, and sustainability journey in 2024. René will present some topics from the board, report, and introduce the board members whose appointment or reappointment is proposed.
Guillaume will then take over to reflect on 2024 and indicate the key priorities for 2025. After that, the external auditor will present its report. This presentation is followed by Julie's presentation, who will guide you through the company's sustainability journey. After the presentation, we'll have one combined Q&A session, and this will cover all of the items on the agenda. After the Q&A session, we'll proceed with voting on the 17 proposed resolutions, which are presented on the screen. Once the voting has been completed, we'll close the AGM. Thank you, René.
Thank you, John. Now, firstly, I would like to reflect on the events of last year. 2024 was a year of great macroeconomic volatility. Russia's war against Ukraine continued, as did the conflict in the Middle East, reminding us of the uncertain world we live in. It was also a year of significant political change, deepening divides in some nations and causing further complexities for international trade. There was continued pressure on global supply chains, which brought challenges to the company and meant we had to adjust our plans accordingly. 2024 also saw numerous natural disasters, such as powerful hurricanes, thunderstorms, and floods. It was the hottest year ever recorded, underlining the necessity to take action to decarbonize. Climate change is and remains the biggest long-term challenge with which humanity is facing. Therefore, sustainability is and will remain one of our core strategic priorities.
Julie Kitcher will outline the company's progress in this area later this afternoon, but first, let me go through our three main businesses. I will begin with the commercial aviation. It was a strong year for commercial aviation, with passenger and freight traffic rising globally. However, specific supply challenges led us to downgrade our aircraft delivery guidance at around the mid-year point. Following a strong effort in the second half, we managed to meet this revised guidance, delivering 766 commercial aircraft, which is 31 more than in 2023. We saw solid demand for the company's competitive and technologically advanced commercial aircraft in 2024. We continued to focus on advancing the portfolio and saw the A321XLR enter into service. A very important milestone. This single-aisle aircraft provides greater range and payload and offers higher value to operators. Guillaume will provide more details on the commercial aircraft performance during his presentation.
The fundamental role of defense is reflected in a record year of order intake for Airbus Defence and Space. We continue to develop our portfolio, and we will strengthen our cooperation with European industry and nations. One example is the Future Combat Air System FCAS program. A more robust and technologically advanced defense sector will be crucial to enhancing Europe's sovereignty and the ability of member nations to serve as dependable partners within NATO. There were some significant achievements in the space business. For example, a number of Airbus-built satellites were successfully launched, including Sentinel-2C and EarthCare. Yet the year, as you know, was not without challenges. We incurred significant charges on certain satellite programs. However, we took action, launched a robust turnaround plan in close collaboration with the Defence and Space Management Team.
This plan intends to secure our position as a leading and competitive player in the ever-evolving market of defense and space. It was a successful year for Airbus Helicopters, another one, reporting strong order intake and increased profitability, which shows stable growth. The division retained its strong focus on innovation, as shown with the Racer demonstrator. Just recently, we saw the launch of a new helicopter, the light twin-engined H140. I would now like to turn to the activities of the board and some of the items that will be submitted for your voting today. We notably focused on the company's strategy and financial performance. We focused on aviation safety, on sustainability matters, cybersecurity, on ethics and compliance matters, as well as board and executive succession planning. We had regular exchanges with Airbus's top management and key stakeholders throughout the year.
Ten board meetings were held in 2024, with an average attendance rate of 96%. In addition, ad hoc meetings addressed various strategic topics. The board committees performed all of their duties and discussed items within their respective remits. The committees showed high attendance rates between 96.7% and 100%. Every year, the board has an offsite meeting dedicated to the company's strategy. If you want, it's kind of the kickoff of the strategic cycle of each year. This session is, in addition to regular discussions then following suit, on strategy throughout the year. The 2024 offsite took place in Sevilla, in Spain, where we inspected the A400M and the C295 final assembly lines. One of the focus areas during this strategy discussion was the future direction of Defence and Space.
Some of the company's senior leaders shared their plans and the assessments for their product portfolio and the further evolution of the business environment. The board also held local management meetings as part of informative visits to several other sites, including Broughton in the U.K. and the training center in Miami. Regular discussions were held on the production ramp-up and supply chain issues in the commercial aircraft business, as well as the strategy of this core activity. The board reviewed Defence and Space's financial situation and its ongoing transformation. There was a focus on the strategic orientation of the air power business, which encompasses all our manned and unmanned military aircraft, air systems, and services. For Helicopters, the division's overall strategy was reviewed, and it was confirmed.
Some of our board members visited the Marignane site, and they were impressed by the innovative solutions and the new technologies used, for instance, for the training of H125 pilots using a virtual reality simulator. Sustainability remained a primary focus of the board in 2024. Discussions centered on the decarbonization of aviation and the associated levers: the regulatory framework, developments of sustainability reporting, due diligence, and supply chain obligations. An important milestone was the preparation of the sustainability statement that has been included in the board report in line with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, better known as CSRD. Today also marks the release of a new sustainability publication designed for the general public that provides an overview of Airbus's sustainability activities. There are printed copies of this document titled "Pioneering Sustainable Aerospace." These copies are here today. They will be available on the Airbus website as well.
Julie will share more details on this topic in her presentation. The board was actively involved in management succession planning in 2024. Lars Wagner, the current CEO of MTU Aeroengines, was selected as CEO for the commercial aircraft business from the beginning of next year. Carmen Maya Rex, formerly Human Resources Group Director of Heidelberg Materials, was appointed as the new Airbus Chief Human Resources Officer starting this month. There were important engagements with shareholders in 2024. I had the pleasure to be part of some of these exchanges together with my colleague Amparo Moraleda, our lead independent director on the board, and the Airbus team, of course. We have had discussions on various topics, including the board's composition, the proposed remuneration policy, and the company's strategic and its strategy and its vision on sustainability. We very much look forward to continuing those engagements and discussions.
I would now like to proceed with the renewal of the director's mandates and the new director appointments, which are being proposed for your approval today. With respect to the renewal of current mandates, the three directors proposed for reelection at this AGM are Guillaume Faury, Catherine Guillouard, and Irene Rummelhoff. Guillaume stands for reelection as executive director. Catherine and Irene are standing for reelection as non-executive directors. I will now outline the backgrounds of the three directors up for renewal, as well as Doris Höpke. Guillaume Faury has served as CEO of the company since 2019. Six years now. It was a good time. His history at Airbus goes back further than that. Between 1998 and 2008, he fulfilled various senior management roles at Airbus Helicopters, in engineering, in programs, and in flight testing.
He spent four years at Peugeot Citroën, where he was Executive Vice President for Research and Development and a member of its management board. He then, fortunately, rejoined Airbus in 2013 to become CEO of the Helicopters business, a position he held until 2018. He then served as President of Airbus Commercial Aircraft before becoming Airbus CEO. In 2021, he also became the President of the French Aerospace Industries Association called GIFAS. Since 2023, Guillaume has also served as President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the European Aerospace Security and Defense Industry called ASD. Guillaume has successfully navigated the company through difficult times. Under his leadership, we became the undisputed global market leader in civil aviation.
He possesses the experience, the diligence, and the skills to steer the company towards further success and growth, remaining committed to its purpose to pioneer sustainable aviation and aerospace for a safe and united world. Coming to Catherine Guillouard. Catherine was first appointed in 2016. Since 2019, she has been the chair of the company's audit committee after having served as a member of this for three years. She's also a member of the Ethics, Compliance, and Sustainability Committee. Catherine started her career in 1993 at the French Ministry of Economy and Finance before moving into the private sector in 1997, where she held various executive positions, i.e., in Air France and in Eutelsat, notably as CFO. From May 2014 to February 2017, she was Deputy CEO at Rexel. From August 2017 to September 2022, she served as chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of the RATP Group.
Furthermore, she has held various non-executive directorship positions in infrastructure, ADP, in media and entertainment, technical law, and utilities, NG. She was appointed chairwoman of the supervisory board of Ingenico, a global leader in payment acceptance solutions and services in September 2022, and she is a member of the board of directors of Lottomatica and of Air Liquide. Catherine provides remarkable leadership experience to the board, and she continues to bring highly valued insights on financial management and audit, on risk management, corporate governance, and sustainability. Coming to Irene Rummelhoff. Also up for renewal is Irene Rummelhoff, who was first appointed at the AGM in 2022. She is also a member of the Ethics, Compliance, and Sustainability Committee. Irene currently serves as executive vice president of marketing, midstream, and processing at Equinor ASA. She has held this position since 2018.
Irene was a non-executive director of Norsk Hydro ASA from 2014 to 2022. She has extensive experience in the energy sector and a strong understanding of the challenges linked to the energy transition. The aerospace industry is in the process of transformation. Irene brings valuable experience and an impressive skill set to take on any such challenges. Now coming to Dr. Doris Höpke. Doris currently is a member of the supervisory board of Mercedes-Benz AG, and she is active as an independent advisor. She has robust geopolitical and risk management expertise, also in the aerospace sector, amongst others, after having been active in the field of reinsurance for over two decades. Those skills have been identified as priorities by the board, and they will be instrumental to the company in the evolving complex global economic and geopolitical context while facing supply chain challenges.
As indicated, she has a sound understanding of the operations and the risks within the aerospace industry, and her ability to connect people as a mediator on top of that is highly valued. Her skill set will bring new perspectives to the board. Doris held various leadership positions domestically and internationally at Munich Re, including as head of the Aerospace and Special Services Division there. She served on its executive board from 2014 to 2022. She's a trained lawyer and a mediator. She holds a PhD in product safety and product liability law from Osnabrück University. If I could ask you to come on stage and say a few words, Doris, on yourself to introduce yourself.
Thank you, René, for your kind introduction.
As René already mentioned, I spent most of my career in the reinsurance business, and indeed, this is heavily influencing my approach to decision-making in business matters and also my view at complex situations, of course. This mainly in two ways. First of all, no matter which header of global news you open, everything that's happening in the world is relevant for a reinsurer, be it megatrends like demographics or globalization or deglobalization, technology, financial markets, also legislation, of course, regulation, and not the least, politics. Everything that's relevant for any business in any industry is also of interest for a reinsurer, and in particular, those factors that develop over a long period of time and may have widely spread impact on businesses, like, for example, climate change that was already mentioned or geopolitical shifts and polarization.
Second, when the core of your business is taking risk, risk transfer, it's absolutely essential to look at the upside and also at the downside and understand the drivers of both. Different scenarios are built, and it's also part of the craft to think them through to the end, and in particular, with an eye to the adverse scenarios, because it does make a big difference whether an unfavorable development may change the one or the other KPI in your balance sheet or whether it can put your company in serious trouble. What does all of this have to do with Airbus? I think it's very relevant.
Anyway, every board today must have an eye on the resilience of its business vis-à-vis uncertainties, vis-à-vis ad hoc shocks in order to achieve good growth, good bottom-line results, and to ensure the resources to invest in the future and to invest in innovation. Further, as many companies, and it was mentioned as well already, businesses are undergoing a transformation, and good boardroom decisions in the interest of shareholders, of employees, of clients, and of society, they must be based, in my view, on a holistic view on a very complex landscape of influencing factors, of uncertainties, and there must be a good balance between upside and downside, and this ideally paired with the right measure of courage.
I'm determined to contribute my experience, my expertise, my energy, my personal integrity to help pioneering sustainable aerospace, and I would be honored if you expressed your confidence in me by electing me to the board of your company. Thank you, or as we are in the Netherlands, dank u wel.
Thank you, Doris, for that great introduction and your thoughts. I have to go on to the next item, and it relates to the Dutch Corporate Governance Code. Our company is incorporated in the Netherlands and applies the Dutch Corporate Governance Code. We address our compliance with this code in the board report. On the Airbus dividend policy, which demonstrates, I hope you agree, a strong commitment to shareholder returns. This policy targets sustainable growth in the dividend within a payout ratio of 30-40% of our net income.
Guillaume will share how this policy translated into the proposed dividends for the 2024 financial year. Before handing it over to Guillaume Faury, I would like to express my gratitude on behalf of the board. First of all, a big thank you to all the Airbus colleagues around the world, the management team, and of course, a very big thank you to Guillaume for his relentless effort and dedication to Airbus in challenging times. Thank you all for your dedication, loyalty, and super hard work. That is a moment you are allowed to clap hands. I've seen a few companies in my life, very few management teams who work as hard as these folks do. They do the very best for you and for the company.
As we approach the 25th anniversary of the company's stock market listing, I would also like to express our gratitude to you, our Airbus shareholders. I want to thank you for your trust, your commitment, your continued support for this fantastic company. We continue to strive for value creation while pioneering the transformation of the aerospace industry, and I will now hand the floor over to our CEO, to Guillaume Faury. Please join me in welcoming him for his presentation.
Thank you, René. I take your very kind comments as a way to raise the bar again. Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and let me start by thanking you for your continued support and your trust in our company. Today is devoted to looking back at 2024, but allow me for a word on 2025.
The complex and fast-changing environments we are progressing in are becoming even more versatile at an unprecedented speed, as we also saw earlier today. This results in particular from the uncertainty around global trade and the geopolitical shift shaping European defense. When it comes to tariffs, we continue assessing the evolving situation. Now, back to the highlights of 2024. In 2024, we experienced another year and another very strong order intake across all businesses, confirming the demand and positive outlook for our industry and for our products and services. At the same time, we adapted to our operating environments, concentrating, given the complexity around us, concentrating on what matters most. We refocused our efforts to progress on our priorities and secure our trajectory. On Defence and Space, we took further steps to transform the business and organization. The extensive technical reviews of our space programs have now been completed.
On space systems, we progressed on our three-step approach. First, we're putting our existing contracts and projects back on track. Second, we're turning around the space business. Third, and finally, we are evaluating strategic options, and I will comment on it later. On the commercial aircraft ramp-up, we prioritized activities and allocated our resources accordingly. We are upskilling our teams, collaborating closely, very closely with our suppliers, and while keeping a laser-like focus on quality and safety, as mentioned by René earlier. In that context, we delivered on our revised guidance in 2024, and this was actually a real achievement in the challenging environments I described earlier. I'm proud of what the teams have achieved, and I also want to thank all our partners in delivering these results with us.
The solid financial results and our confidence in our future financial performance support our 2024 dividend proposal of EUR 2 per share and a special dividend of EUR 1 per share. With all that in mind, let's take a closer look at 2024, starting with commercial positioning. Starting with the commercial aircraft business, in 2024, travel demand remained robust, continuing to exceed historical records. We booked 878 gross orders this year after the 2023 record year. We had customers reordering the same family of aircraft, while some of our product lines welcomed new customers. Net orders amounted to 826 aircraft, taking our backlog to 8,658 aircraft at the end of December. On A320, we continue to ramp up towards the rate of 75 A320 family aircraft per month in 2027.
We were very pleased that our newest aircraft that you saw on screen, the A321XLR, entered into service and is now certified with both engine manufacturers. It brings unique capabilities in terms of range. That is what you see on screen. Capabilities, unique capabilities in terms of range, economics, and environmental efficiency, and allowed our first customers, Iberia, the one you saw on the screen, to connect Spain with the U.S. East Coast. On A330, we are now stabilizing at a monthly production rate of four. Specific supply chain challenges, notably with Spirit AeroSystems, are currently putting pressure on the ramp-up of the A350 and the A220. On the A350, the company continues to target rate 12 in 2028 and is adjusting the entry into service of the A350 Freighter variant, which is now expected in H2 2027.
On the A220, the young brother of the family, we continue to target a monthly production rate of 14 aircraft in 2026. On helicopters, we achieved a book-to-build significantly above one, including the remarkable performance of the Super Puma family. This book-to-build, I remind you, is the ratio of orders or value of orders that is received compared to the amount billed for a specific period. It helps understand the dynamic of the growth of the company. For Defence and Space, order intake reached a record level for a second year in a row, corresponding to a book-to-build of around 1.4 in value, while being more selective on our bidding and more prudent on the risk profiles. This notably includes the next-generation satellite system for Germany's armed forces, the two strategic contracts with OSCAR for the A400M, and the Eurofighter orders from Spain and Italy.
At group level, our backlog in value increased to EUR 629 billion by the end of 2024, mainly reflecting the book-to-build above one for all divisions and the strengthening of the US dollar. As you can see on the chart, it is also well spread across the regions. I am happy to say that this positive momentum continued in early 2025. We recorded 280 commercial aircraft gross orders in the first quarter, and we continue to see a positive momentum in our Helicopters division, as reflected by the 118 commitments announced during Verticon 2025, which is the annual event of Helicopters in the U.S. This event also marked the official introduction of the H140, our newest multi-mission helicopters, which received a very positive response from customers.
Now, turning onto our financial performance, our full fiscal year, full year 2024 revenues increased to EUR 69.2 billion, up 6% year on year, mainly reflecting the number of deliveries of commercial aircraft and helicopters and a higher volume in our air power business. On research and development, R&D, our expenses stood at EUR 3.3 billion in 2024, stable compared to 2023. In 2024, the positive contribution from the higher commercial aircraft deliveries was partially offset by investments to prepare the future, notably the excess workforce for the ramp-up, as well as a slightly less favorable hedge rate. The underlying performance was also supported by the solid performance of our Helicopters division. In 2024, total charges of EUR 1.3 billion were recorded, resulting from the in-depth technical review of our space programs.
In 2023, updated assumptions on some long-term contracts in our space business resulted in a charge of EUR 0.6 billion. The technical review reflects the extensive and profound work done by the team in 2024, program by program, leading to revised assumptions and resulting in lowering our risk profile looking forward in a business that remains inherently complex and with, today, a very high level of increased competition. It is now about delivering on our plan in a simpler organization with end-to-end accountability and leveraging the reuse of technology bricks that we have already developed. While on Defence and Space, we are progressing in the discussions with our social partners with regards to the division reorganization and workforce adaptation. Restructuring provision is expected to be recognized once necessary conditions are fulfilled. The level of EBIT adjustment totaled a net negative EUR 50 million, mainly related to the A400M.
Our EPS reported was EUR 5.36 using an average of 790 million shares. Our free cash flow before customer financing was EUR 4.5 billion, reflecting the strong performance across all three businesses. Let's now look at our dividends. As reminded, in December 2013, Airbus formalized a dividend policy demonstrating a strong commitment to shareholder returns. This policy targets sustainable growth in the dividend with a payout ratio of 30-40%. As mentioned by our Chairman, the Airbus Board of Directors proposes to the annual general meeting the payment for 2024 of a dividend per share of EUR 2 on the 24th of April 2025 for the payment, corresponding to a payout ratio of 37%. In addition, the Airbus Board of Directors proposes to the annual general meeting the payment of a special dividend of EUR 1 per share, also on the 24th of April 2025.
Now, let's have a look at how our share price progressed in 2024. We saw the blue curve that is the Airbus one. We started the year in positive territory supported by the 2023 orders and delivery announcements. The share price reached a high point together with the overall rise of equity markets driven by optimism over the economy and interest rate cuts in 2024. Continued geopolitical tensions across the globe impacted equity markets in the second quarter. In this context, Airbus share price was further impacted by reports on production delays and continued supply chain challenges. In June, that can be seen on the chart, the company's shares widened their losses, initially due to political uncertainty in France, then followed by the major drop resulting from the 2024 guidance update done by the company and the announcement of adjustment to the A320 ramp-up trajectory.
In the third quarter, Airbus share price remained volatile with a positive reaction to the H1 2024 earning release, but a negative impact from the general macroeconomic environment, as well as engine manufacturers' comments on output and challenges. In the fourth quarter, global equities were impacted by the escalations of the conflict in the Middle East. However, easing inflation pressures and expectations of continued interest rate cuts from central banks supported equity markets. U.S. markets rallied following the U.S. presidential elections, while European markets were weighted down by the potential adverse impact of more protectionist policies. Airbus share price continued to outperform, supported in part by the decision of engine manufacturers to divert some engines from the aftermarket to Airbus and by a solid level of commercial aircraft deliveries in November, which reassured the market of the year-end delivery target.
Overall, in 2024, Airbus share price outperformed the CAC 40 but underperformed the DAX 40 and the broader aerospace and defense sector. Now, looking at the 2025 developments, which we can easily see on the slide, in early 2025, Airbus share price continued to rise as the 2024 orders and deliveries were seen as a ramp-up signal. While the increase in European defense spending was seen as a positive catalyst for the European aerospace and defense sector, the market remained volatile, impacted by the continuous changes in the U.S. trade policy. The market volatility was further increased by the general U.S. tariffs announcement on the 2nd of April. Since then, the main European indexes and the Airbus share price have been on a downward trend as the market digests the potential impacts on global economic growth, inflation, and supply chain disruptions of the trade announcements.
Let me now remind you of our 2025 guidance as issued on the 20th of February earlier this year. As the basis for the 2025 guidance, the company assumes no additional disruptions to global trade or the world economy, air traffic, the supply chain, the company's internal operations, and its ability to deliver products and services. I want to remind you that the guidance issued on the 20th of February excluded the impact of, at that time, potential new tariffs on the company's business. This company's 2025 guidance includes the integration of certain Spirit AeroSystems work packages based on preliminary estimates and the closing assumption as of 1st of July of this year. On that basis, the company targets to achieve in 2025 around 820 commercial aircraft deliveries, an EBIT adjusted of around EUR 7 billion, and a free cash flow before customer financing of around EUR 4.5 billion.
The guidance includes the following preliminary assumptions for the integration of certain Spirit AeroSystems work packages. First, a broadly neutral impact on EBIT adjusted, and second, a mid-triple-digit negative impact on free cash flow before customer financing, and a broadly neutral impact on net cash as the compensation to be received from Spirit AeroSystems will offset the free cash flow negative impact. As said, the potential impact from the new tariffs is excluded from our guidance. While they cannot be conclusively assessed at present in light of the volatility and uncertainty, we are closely and actively monitoring how the global trade framework and the current microenvironments are likely to evolve. We will conclude with our key priorities. Yes, I accelerate. We are committed to serving our customers in 2025 while maintaining our strong commercial position across all businesses, which represents a source of strength and stability.
In doing so, we will continue to focus on the commercial aircraft ramp-up and the Defence and Space transformation. When it comes to the ramp-up, we aim at improving our ability to deliver on time and on quality. We will continue shaping our industrial systems and managing a deep and interdependent supply chain within a complex and, again, fast-changing environment around us. On that front, we are progressing towards the integration of the so-called certain Spirit AeroSystems work packages expected, as I said earlier, by the middle of the year. This acquisition, which is what I would call a defensive move, aims at securing some key work packages for the A220 and the A350 programs.
On the transformation of Defense and Space, we will keep executing our turnaround plan and pursue the workforce adaptation in close collaboration with our social partners while looking at different scenarios to create scale in the European space business. As you know, we have started exploratory discussions with Thales and Leonardo. These discussions, which are preliminary and non-binding at this stage, aim at assessing different scenarios to consolidate and strengthen the European space sector and add value to the main stakeholders to this industry. These priorities are enablers for profitable growth, therefore supporting our ambition to lead the development of sustainable aerospace. Julie will come back to that in more details in a moment. Before I hand back to René, let me remind you that there is no sustainability without security.
While we have seen the geopolitical context shifting lately, there is a growing awareness in Europe of the importance of strengthening common defense capabilities and creating scale by consolidating demand as well as supply. In that context, Airbus is committed to European defense and strategic autonomy. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Guillaume. Before we now come to the external auditor's report and before we listen to Nico Poole from EY, Airbus's external auditor for the year 2024, I would like to make the following statements in respect of the company's and EY's legal obligations. Number one, for the purpose of this AGM, the company has waived EY's obligations of confidentiality. Number two, EY has the obligation to correct any materially incorrect statements and/or announcements in relation to the 2024 financial statements or the independent auditor's report.
Three, EY will present the audit process and procedures in relation to the financial statements before adopting the 2024 financial statements contained in the 2024 board report. Nico. Good afternoon. It's a bit loud, I think. For fiscal year 2024, EY has been the statutory auditor of Airbus SE. Our audit and audit results are described in our independent auditor's report issued at February 19, 2025. Our report is included in the 2024 annual report.
My name is Nico Poole, and I'm representing EY Accountants BV. It is common practice in the Netherlands that the statutory auditor presents to the AGM a high-level overview on the audit and the audit results. I will also cover our limited assurance engagement conclusions on the sustainability statement.
On our audit, I would like to present to you briefly our audit plan, including the materiality used and our coverage, the key audit matters, and our conclusions. The audit scopes as shown on this slide are unchanged when compared to last year. As mentioned on the previous slide, we audit whether the financial statements give a true and fair view. To assess the true and fair view, we apply to a materiality level of EUR 265 million. This is 5% of EBIT. 5% is a common percentage and the same as in previous years. Of course, our audit procedures cover more than only amounts exceeding EUR 265 million. The conclusion to reach is whether the financial statements give a true and fair view. We designed the aggregate of our scope and audit procedures such that we have sufficient and appropriate basis for our conclusions.
The reporting threshold for those charged with governance for all the differences, if any, was determined at EUR 13 million. This is 5% of materiality, which is a common percentage. We had 53 operating entities in scope. These represented 96% of total consolidated revenues, 97% of total consolidated assets, and 94% of total consolidated EBIT. For the entities not in scope, we performed, amongst others, analytical procedures. This was to corroborate our assessment that the group financial statements are free from material misstatement. We prepared our audit plan and presented it to the audit committee and the board. We based the plan on our understanding of Airbus. We included the information gathered during previous years, and we considered the relevant factors in the environment Airbus operates in. We considered the risk of material misstatement due to fraud.
We paid specific attention to the following risks: the risk of management override regarding margin at completion and recoverability of key program assets, and the risk of fraud in revenue recognition. We paid specific attention to and reported specifically upon the so-called key audit matters. Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgment, were of most significance in our audit of the financial statements. We involved specialists in areas requiring their expertise and verified that they too meet independence and learning requirements. We focused on key programs with respect to the key audit matters, revenue recognition, estimations related to the accounting of owners and overtime contracts, and recoverability of key program assets. We reviewed the underlying processes and controls that are used to account for the programs and challenged management on the assumptions used.
This included assessment of updates by management on the ramp-up of production rates in commercial, on future sales scenarios, on estimations of cost to fulfill contracts, and on their impact on valuations and revenue recognition. We looked at the historical accuracy of previous year's estimates. As part of our audit of the financial statements, we considered the impact of climate-related risks. We evaluated whether the possible effects of the energy transition are taken into account in estimates and significant assumptions. This is described in our third key audit matter, recoverability of key program and long-lived assets. The fourth key audit matter includes hedge accounting. We tested the highly probable assessment of future aircraft delivery as performed by the company. We challenged key management assumptions pertaining to order cancellation, airline default, and aircraft rescheduling risks.
In the context of our audit of the financial statements, we evaluated whether key assumptions and estimates are within reasonable ranges. Airbus prepared the 2024 sustainability statement in accordance with EFRS. It is included in the report of the board of directors. We issued a limited insurance report on the sustainability statement. In accordance with the default wording of our professional body, we included, amongst others, two emphases of matter paragraphs. The first is about measurement and estimation uncertainties, also because of a lack of historical sustainability information. The second states, amongst others, that the DMA process will evolve over time. Also, as the Airbus operates in, will likely change.
We concluded that nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the sustainability statement is not, in all material respects, prepared in accordance with ESRS, as adopted by the EU, compliant with the DMA process carried out by Airbus, and compliant with the reporting requirements provided for in Article 8 of the EU taxonomy. Based on our audit of the financial statements, we drew our audit conclusions. In our reasonable assurance report, we concluded that the 2024 financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of Airbus as of December 31, 2024, of its result and its cash flows for 2024, in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the EU and with Part 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code. We have read the so-called other information included in the annual report.
This includes the report of the board of directors. Based on our knowledge and understanding obtained through our audit of the financial statements or otherwise, we concluded that the other information is consistent with the 2024 financial statements, and we did not identify any material misstatements. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you, Nico, for the good presentation, but also to you and your team for the good cooperation. Moving on to the next topic, leading the journey toward clean aerospace, this is a presentation by our Chief Sustainability Officer in Communications by Julie Kitcher. Julie, can you?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Hello, ladies and gentlemen. It's really a pleasure to be here to talk to you today about the Airbus sustainability journey. We are and always have been a company driven by innovation, known for pioneering technologies that have redefined the aerospace industry.
We believe that sustainability and competitiveness are mutually reinforcing drivers of long-term success. Our commitment to responsible, profitable growth ensures that sustainability is not just an ethical imperative, but a business one too, delivering returns while securing our leadership in tomorrow's aerospace. We've heard it already today. In a world of rising tensions, Airbus is staying true to its purpose. We pioneer sustainable aerospace for a safe and united world. We see sustainability as a source of strength, supporting efficiency, innovation, and long-term value across everything we do. We're committed to maximizing our positive impact on people and society while minimizing our environmental footprint. We're delivering impactful solutions, investing in a values-driven ecosystem and sustainable operations to enable communities to thrive and to transform the future of aerospace for generations to come.
Investing in a values-driven ecosystem is all about building responsible, resilient, and ethical business practices within the company and throughout the value chain, the supply chain. Our impactful solutions start with sustainable operations by reducing our environmental footprint, improving efficiency, and ensuring responsible sourcing. Aerospace plays a role, a vital role in connecting people, promoting economic growth, supporting global peace and stability, and also communities to thrive. Our purpose is really paired with a strong commitment to a fair and just society and community cohesion. The future of aerospace belongs to those who innovate and lead the transition to net zero aviation. We are at the forefront of this transformation, investing in breakthrough technologies and fostering industry-wide collaboration, enhancing and creating long-term value for our customers and driving down emissions. Let's start with the benefits of aviation, somehow called into question quite often.
In 2023, the aviation sector's contribution to the global GDP was $4.1 trillion, which is the equivalent of 3.9% of global economic growth. It supported 86.5 million jobs globally, including 11.6 million direct jobs in airlines, airports, and related sectors. Air transport is crucial for global trade, carrying a third of world trade by value. Aviation also enables 58% of international tourists to reach their destinations, significantly boosting global tourism and cultural exchange. The industry provides a significant contribution to economic development and connectivity in the world, connecting people across continents, facilitating personal, business, and cultural interactions. We believe that we're creating value by enabling this global connectivity, security, and innovation through advanced aerospace solutions. We're opening new markets, expanding our customer base, and diversifying our revenue streams.
When we talk about impactful solutions, Airbus believes that there's no sustainability without security and no security without sustainability. For Airbus, defense is a force for good. It's the cornerstone of a nation's provision of safety and security for its citizens and their way of life. It's also an engine of innovation and a driver of economic growth, as well as an investment in sovereignty and resilience. Our investments in security and sovereignty solutions and satellites for Earth observation position us as a leader in high-growth sectors such as defense, space, and emergency response. We actually have 16 satellites involved in climate monitoring missions, and there are more to come this year. Sustainability is not only about compliance; it's about total societal impact.
Every solution we build is evaluated on financial returns and also on how it strengthens our competitive positioning, enhancing our brand, and securing long-term resilience. Our helicopters provide both civil and military platforms and missions to our customers. They support humanitarian aid and medical services, reinforcing our role in high-impact, mission-critical operations. Additionally, by extending the longevity of our products through maintenance and services, we ensure stable, recurring revenues while reducing our environmental impact. Let's take a look now about our values-driven ecosystem. I said it: sustainability at Airbus is grounded in responsibility, resilience, and ethical business practices, not only within our operations, but across our supply chain. It starts with the safety of our employees. A strong focus on safety led to a notable reduction in our lost-time injury frequency rate, or FR1, which was down to 1.56 in the past year, surpassing our targets.
This achievement reflects ongoing health and safety campaigns such as people safety at work, regular audits, and proactive engagement through initiatives such as WeCare and Safe Together. We are equally committed to diversity and inclusion, recognizing the value of attracting and retaining top talent. Our workforce at Airbus represents more than 150 nationalities, and females now hold 22% of executive roles. To support underrepresented groups, Airbus has partnered with external organizations to launch mentoring programs focused on gender and social diversity too. These initiatives empower young women and individuals from rural communities to pursue careers in STEM, aligning with our long-term vision for a more inclusive and impactful future. Sustainability also extends to our supply chain, where 86% of sourcing volume is covered by a maturity assessment evaluating environmental impact, human rights, and health and safety standards. This collaborative approach ensures business excellence across our ecosystem.
Let's look at our sustainable operations, and I'm happy to share that we're making good progress towards our 2030 targets. In 2024, our greenhouse gas emissions for our scope 1 and 2 in operations had decreased by 51% compared to the 2015 baseline. Our 2024 absolute emissions were at 604,000 tons of CO2 equivalent. In 2024, we implemented a renewable electricity contract in China to cover operations there. We also launched the Toulouse biomass boiler last October, where this new facility will enable annual savings of 26,000 tons of CO2 and 80 gigawatt hours of electricity. Furthermore, in 2024, we used 18% of sustainable aviation fuel in our own operations. That's for flight tests and logistics. The total measures that we've implemented over recent years have led to an 18% reduction of energy consumption in 2024 compared to that 2015, sorry, baseline.
In addition, through the adoption of a responsible life cycle management approach, we achieved a waste reduction of 21% in 2024. We have also made substantial progress on landfill and incineration, with 12 major waste streams amounting to 3,000 tons being diverted to improvement treatment facilities. We have also been very active on water monitoring. Water withdrawal decreased to 3.5 million cubic meters, reflecting a reduction of 18% compared to 2015, with a focus on water-stressed areas. We have seen notable reductions in Toulouse, São Paulo, and Tianjin. This will also improve our business continuity and resilience. These actions combined contribute to improving resource efficiency and responsible sourcing, as well as to long-term cost competitiveness and financial performance while reducing our environmental footprint. Of course, we are making progress towards our near-term SBTi targets.
I'd like to take a few moments, please, to talk about how we're working on global challenges like climate change, poverty, and inequality by focusing on two core areas. Supporting vulnerable communities during humanitarian and climate crises and equipping young people with the vital skills they need for the future. This mission is brought to life through corporate giving, employee engagement, and the Airbus Foundation, all powered by the company's cutting-edge technologies and passionate workforce. In 2024, Airbus backed more than 30 projects in 12 countries via the Rise and Resilience Fund, with a strong focus on expanding STEM education for young people. Even more initiatives are expected to join the program this year. Airbus also runs an annual grant scheme to fund sustainable community projects alongside its Positive Impact platform, which connects employees with global nonprofits. Since 2022, more than 27,000 staff have actively taken part.
The Airbus Foundation partners with NGOs to deliver emergency aid, drive environmental action, and create educational content inspired by aerospace innovation. In one example, it provided helicopter flight hours to help Bolivia respond to devastating wildfires in partnership with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Crisis and Support Center. The foundation also launched Fair Enough, an interactive app helping young people understand AI, co-developed with educators, science communicators, and Airbus employees. Together, these efforts form a holistic approach to driving meaningful, measurable change in communities worldwide. Now a look at transforming aerospace. To transform aerospace and aviation, we're working on innovation and technologies, aircraft operations and traffic management, SAF, and hydrogen, as well as policy. 2024 marked a pivotal year for Airbus, one of turning bold ambition into concrete technological achievements.
Guillaume said it, a major milestone was the A321XLR receiving type certification and its first delivery. With 30% lower fuel burn per seat than previous generation aircraft, it sets a new standard for long-range efficient single-aisle jets. We also made significant strides across key innovation areas with demonstrators. On the material side, with progress on bio-based composites and the multifunctional fuselage demonstrator, with propulsion through open-fan wind tunnel testing and the EcoPulse hybrid electric demonstrator. In aerodynamics via the Extra Performance Wing and the Wing of Tomorrow programs. These demonstrators are paving the way for a new generation of single-aisle aircraft by the late 2030s, expected to be 20-30% even more fuel efficient than today's aircraft. We also reaffirmed our commitment to hydrogen, identifying hydrogen fuel cell technology as the most promising route to fully electric flight.
When it comes to scope 3 emissions from sold products, which were estimated at around 475 million tons of CO2 equivalent, with CO2 emissions intensity at 61.1 grams of CO2 equivalent per passenger kilometer, this is actually a reduction of 31% compared to 2015. Of course, there is still a long way to go. Sustainable aviation fuels, or SAF, if you like, play a key role in these scope 3 numbers. SAF adoption has doubled in 2024 to 1 million tons. It sounds substantial, but in actual fact, it is only 0.3% of the total aviation fuel needs in the same year. The industry collectively needs to double down on increasing uptake. When it comes to operations and infrastructure, we continued our tests and research on the operations and infrastructures pillar, which could reduce gate-to-gate per flight CO2 emissions by 5-10% by 2035.
There are also non-CO2 gains to be expected from better operations. For instance, in our CICONIA project, we're working with our partners to demonstrate the operational feasibility of minimizing contrails by optimizing flight plans. Also, while SAF reduces CO2 emissions, it could help with non-CO2 emissions too. In June 2024, results from Eclif 3, the world's first in-flight study of the impact of using 100% sustainable aviation fuel on both engines of a commercial aircraft, showed both a reduction in soot particles and formation of contrail ice crystals compared to using conventional Jet A1 fuel. On hydrogen, we've made some progress, even though acknowledgeably not enough, in building a hydrogen network all around the world through multi-strategic partnerships. As of today, our Airbus hydrogen network involves 220 airports across the globe with 22 hydrogen hubs and 12 engaged customers.
We started in early 2024 with the launch of the first hydrogen hub at scale in Sweden and Norway, followed in May by the first three hubs in North America, in Houston, Atlanta, and Canada. In Europe, we've announced the first hub in Spain, Hamburg, and London Gatwick. Renewable hydrogen projects are under development in the world, but they face headwinds. As a result, hydrogen is unlikely to be available in sufficient quantities in 2035. That's the reason why we recently pushed back our plans to bring the first hydrogen-powered aircraft to the market by 2035. On the SAF ecosystem, Airbus is actively advancing the use of sustainable aviation fuel through strategic investment and innovation.
For example, as a lead investor and in partnership with Air France, KLM, Qantas, BNP Paribas, and others, Airbus co-invested in the SAFFA fund, a fund of around $200 million to improve access to financing and accelerate SAF production. In July, Airbus also invested in LanzaJet to support the development of the alcohol-to-jet pathway to scaling SAF through its proprietary ethanol-to-SAF technology. Where access to SAF can be limited, especially at smaller airports, last month we were delighted to launch the Airbus Book and Claim demonstrator. That is a book and claim system which helps to allow airlines to buy SAF used elsewhere and claim the emission savings for their own operations. Finally, we continue to play an active role advocating for a policy and regulatory framework to meet the requirements of a global industry to meet a sector's decarbonization goal by 2050.
Finally, a few words on sustainability disclosure, which has evolved substantially this year for Airbus in 2024. The company was one of the first to publish its sustainability statements in the new CSRD format, backed by an unqualified audit opinion and a comprehensive double materiality assessment. The full report actually covers 820-plus global data points aligned with financial disclosures. To make it more accessible, we have also released today Pioneering Sustainable Aerospace. It is a summary of key themes, and we have made it available for you today at the AGM. These efforts really reflect the company's strong commitment to transparency, enabling better informed decisions for investors and providing clearer insight into its sustainability performance for employees, customers, and wider society. I would say to conclude, we are really at a turning point in aerospace.
The choices we make today will define the industry for decades to come and how our products and services will contribute to solving one of our generation's biggest challenges, climate change. By supporting a sustainability-driven strategy, we're backing long-term profitability, industry leadership, and enduring value creation. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.