COO: Airbus orders to tumble

This year will be a soft year for Airbus SAS in term of orders compared with 2011, the chief operating officer of Airbus said on Monday.

The aircraft manufacturer forecast it will have 600 to 650 orders this year and has 250 so far this year, said John J. Leahy, chief operating officer of Airbus.

The manufacturer sold 1,419 aircraft in 2011, a record for Airbus.

"When you have a record like that, it is not at all probable to have a record the year after that," Leahy said.

The boom in 2011 was promoted by airlines' interests in the A320neo but demand has fallen this year.

The order reduction also came as a result of the slowdown of the whole aviation industry.

International Air Transport Association forecasts that the net post-tax profits for the whole industry will fall from $7.9 billion in 2011 to $3 billion in 2012, which is just 0.5 percent of revenues.

Airbus faces being beaten by its old rival Boeing Co in 2012. Boeing announced that it will get as many as 2011's orders, which was 805 aircraft.

However, Airbus does not think it is a problem.

"We pay more attention to the long term, not the orders in the last several months," said Leahy.

He said Airbus is working on a backlog of 4,437 aircraft that will take seven to eight years to finish.

Airbus also has a plan to stretch the size of the A380, which is already the largest aircraft in the world. The plan will be carried out after 2020, since the first task for the manufacture is deliver current orders on time, Leahy said.

wangwen@chinadaily.com.cn