PARIS – Airbus overcame technical toilet troubles and engine delays to win hundreds more plane orders in 2015 than rival Boeing, but a bigger problem may cloud this year for both companies: China’s economic slowdown.
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Airbus argued deliveries were about the same as Boeing’s, disregarding differences of timing between increases in production of the latest generation of lightweight jets.
Airbus, reportedly, scored a higher number of orders than the American competitor, with a 1,036 net orders.
Deliveries are seen by many as a truer reflection of the state of the market and health of an aircraft manufacturer than sales, as airlines do not pay for new jets until they take delivery of them.
Airbus achieved 635 deliveries, a company record and in line with its target of slightly more than the previous year’s 629.
Airbus is considering launching a bigger A350 at this year’s Farnborough Airshow to loosen Boeing’s grip on the promising 400-seat market with its revamped 777X, but faces problems in securing demand for the even bigger A380. China is in the process of shifting from a manufacturing based economy to a more vibrant consumer spending and service economy, meaning that air travel prices have potential to increase, assuming, the economy will not suffer too much from the transition.
Fabrice Brégier, Airbus President and CEO said: “This commercial and industrial performance unequivocally proves that global demand for our aircraft has remained resilient”. At 2015 year-end the overall backlog had climbed to a new industry record of 6,787 aircraft valued at $996.3 billion at list prices.
Boeing said last week its deliveries rose 5 percent to a record 762 jets, extending its lead as the largest producer.
Airbus missed its target for 15 A350 deliveries in 2015 by one plane after shortages in cabin equipment. Bregier said the proportion of single-aisle versus longer-haul jets would remain roughly the same. Airbus also faced certification and production problems with a company supplying seats and toilets for the A350, Zodiac Aerospace. In a boost to the slow-selling A380, the world’s largest passenger jet, Airbus said it had won an order for three of the double-deckers from a “global leadinng airline”. All Nippon Airways Co of Japan has agreed to purchase three A380s, a person familiar with the plan said this month.
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But John Leahy, Airbus’s chief operating officer and the company’s head salesman, said the company was not seeing any drop in demand.
