Airbus Group SE yesterday said that it is in negotiations to sell as many as 32 A380 superjumbos as the European plane maker seeks to break a sales drought that has been eating into a production backlog and threatening the long-term future of its flagship model.
Two potential customers are actively looking at ordering the double-decker, Airbus sales chief John Leahy said in a briefing at the Dubai Air Show, with one interested in as many as 20 aircraft and the other, in around 10 to 12. Both are airlines, he said.
While the orders could be secured this year, they “won’t turn into a pumpkin” if that is not the case and could equally be signed next year, Leahy said.
Photo: EPA
Airbus does not expect to announce orders for the world’s biggest passenger plane at the biennial Dubai expo, he said.
Royal Air Maroc and Saudi Arabian Airlines have said they are interested in the superjumbo, which has a list price of US$428 million and which Airbus once suggested would dominate long-haul travel for decades.
Emirates will not place any A380 orders this year unless Airbus commits to a re-engined Neo version of the plane to reduce fuel costs, Emirates president Tim Clark said in an interview at the show.
Already the biggest customer with 140 orders, the Dubai airline could potentially take 200 more, Clark has said.
Qatar Airways would be interested in a “very small number” of A380Neos for the replacement of its current superjumbos, chief executive officer Akbar al-Baker said.
Meanwhile, Boeing’s chief of airliner sales on Saturday said that as the company weighs developing a midsize model to fill a critical gap in its jet lineup, one thing is clear: The new plane must be about as economical to fly as the signature 737.
John Wojick, senior vice president for global sales and marketing, also dropped a few other hints about Boeing’s work on a concept that has captured the industry’s attention. The plane might have one aisle — or two. And there is probably demand for at least 2,000 of the jets.
Planning for a midrange aircraft to fit between Boeing’s 737 Max 8 narrow-body and smallest 787 Dreamliner has gained urgency with the sales success of a single-aisle Airbus model targeting the same market niche.
Boeing has not had an offering in that segment since the 757 went out of production a decade ago.
“We’ve been studying what the opportunities are in the market space between the 737 Max and the 787 in terms of size and range capability, and it’s clear to us there is interest,” Wojick said. “The one thing we know customers want is the most fuel-efficient plane we can build — and if it means having two aisles is less efficient, they’d rather have a single aisle.”
Single-aisle planes like the 737 are the workhorses of the global airline industry, ferrying passengers for an hour or two between cities. Twin-aisle models such as the Dreamliner are larger, costlier and are most efficient on long routes such as Los Angeles to Sydney.
Boeing is not planning on introducing any new model before 2022 while it focuses on other development programs, Wojick said.
Now in the works are the Max — a version of the top-selling 737 with new engines — and an upgrade to the wide-body 777, the world’s largest twin-engine jetliner, he said.
The company sees a market for “several thousand” airliners that can carry 220 to 280 passengers about 4,500 nautical miles (8,300km), Wojick said.
When pressed about the meaning of “several,” he declined to say whether demand might top 3,000 while saying it would certainly exceed 2,000.
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