Airbus parent EADS dived to a heavy loss in 2009 and scrapped its dividend as charges on its A380 superjumbo and a currency hit swelled already announced charges from cost overruns on the delayed A400M airlifter.
The world's second-largest aerospace group after Boeing posted a net loss of €763 million and an operating loss of €322 million, compared with a net profit of €1.57 billion and an operating surplus of €2.8 billion in 2008.
Revenue dipped to €42.8 billion from 43.3 billion.
Today's figures reflected charges of €1.8 billion for the A400M military transport aircraft and €240 million for the continued high cost of assembling the A380, the world's largest airliner.
"The A380 continued to weigh heavily on the underlying performance," EADS said in a statement, adding that it had also suffered from exceptional foreign exchange effects.
"In total, exchange rate impacts weighed down 2009 EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) by €2.5 billion compared to 2008," it said.
Europe's largest aerospace company had told investors it would take a €1.8 billion hit for remaining losses on the A400M after accepting a €3.5 billion public bailout last week, wiping out its profits for last year.
The company said it expected roughly stable revenue and €1 billion in EBIT in 2010, but with the A380 continuing to weigh "substantially" on the operating income figure.
EADS excludes some exceptional items and goodwill from its standard way of reporting operating income, but has recently used another yardstick stripping out other one-off items such as the A400M to allow investors to gauge its underlying business.
Such operating earnings before one-offs generated a €2.2 billion profit in 2009, ahead of company forecasts of €2 billion but down from €3.3 billion in 2008. Weakness in commercial aerospace was offset by strength in defence.
EADS said Airbus would increase single-aisle A320 family production in December 2010, pointing to an upturn in civil aviation, but said it had eaten up some of the buffers in the development of its future mid-sized A350 programme.
Analysts polled by Reuters before the A400M deal was finalised had expected a 2009 operating profit before one-offs of €694 million, down from €2.83 billion in 2008. They predicted a net loss of €43 million.
The figures were released after US partner Northrop Grumman pulled out of a race for a multi-billion-dollar deal to supply aerial tankers to the Pentagon.
Airbus chief executive Tom Enders appeared earlier today to rule out a solo bid for the contract, telling Reuters that under current conditions it made "no economic sense for Airbus".
EADS was due to hold an analyst meeting at 0800 GMT and a news conference at 1000 GMT.
US rival Boeing, whose profits for 2009 topped market forecasts, said last month it was seeing an improvement in demand for jetliners.
Reuters