Airbus raises targets, rejigs near-term production goals

PARIS, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Europe's Airbus raised full-year financial targets after a narrower-than-expected dip in third-quarter profits, and stuck to a goal of delivering 600 jetliners this year after driving down costs during the pandemic.

The world's largest commercial planemaker posted a 19% drop in third-quarter operating profit to 666 million euros ($772.7 million) as revenues slipped 6% to 10.518 billion.

It said it was looking for full-year operating profit of 4.5 billion euros and free cashflow of 2.5 billion, up from previous targets of 4 billion and 2 billion respectively.

Airbus delayed some planned production increases after a week in which several aerospace firms warned of supply shortages but rounded up its main A320-family narrowbody production target to 65 a month by summer 2023, slightly later than planned.

In May, Airbus said it was calling on suppliers to secure a firm rate of 64 a month by second-quarter 2023.

($1 = 0.8619 euros) (Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)