An Emirates Airbus A380 docked at Dusseldorf Airport in Germany on August 21, 2018.

Airbus on Thursday posted stronger than expected fourth-quarter results overshadowed by a decision to close its flagship A380 program, while forecasting higher aircraft deliveries and profits in 2019.

Europe's largest aerospace group posted quarterly adjusted operating profit of 3.096 billion euros ($3.5 billion), up 56 percent from the same period in the previous year, after accelerating jetliner deliveries in the last three months to make up for earlier delays.

Revenues rose 11 percent to 23.286 billion euros. Analysts had expected quarterly adjusted operating income of 2.292 billion euros on revenues of 22.372 billion, according to a survey carried out for Reuters. An Airbus-compiled consensus pointed to core income of 2.36 billion euros on revenues of 22.818 billion.

Airbus predicted 880-890 commercial aircraft deliveries and a 15 percent higher operating profit in 2019.