After receiving record orders in recent years, Airbus says it expects orders for new planes this year to drop by half from last year amid slower global growth.
John Leahy, Airbus' chief salesman, said at the Singapore Airshow on Tuesday that the European planemaker is likely to sell about 700 planes this year, down from more than 1,400 orders last year.
"The market, in terms of new orders, will be going down," Leahy told a press briefing. "We have a record backlog so I would expect to see fewer and fewer orders as the market does cool off a bit."
PHOTO: REUTERS
"By definition, the whole world is cooling down a little bit," Leahy said.
The 700 planes that Toulouse, France-based Airbus wants to sell will include more than a hundred A350s, a redesigned widebody 300-seat jet, and about 30 units of the A380, the world's largest commercial jet. Korean Air Lines Co said on Monday it would buy three more double-decker A380s on top of its existing order for five of the world's biggest commercial jets.
Leahy said that orders for planes had peaked in the past three years and manufacturers were now ramping up production to deliver them.
Airbus has about 3,600 planes in its order backlog, he said, about the same number as its US rival, Boeing.
Together, the rivals won a record 2,754 orders last year.
The biggest challenge the companies face is getting planes off their production lines fast enough to meet demand. At the end of last year, the two companies together had enough airplanes on order to keep their factories busy for about five to six years.
Both companies have faced delays in deliveries. Airbus's first A380 was delivered nearly two years late last fall -- a delay that slashed profits at parent company EADS.
Chicago-based Boeing last month said the inaugural flight for the 787 would be delayed up to three months, pushing delivery of the first plane into early next year -- the third time the airplane has been delayed.
Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said his company was learning from the mistakes that caused the A380's delay and that it was making improvements in integrating production processes.
"We're taking quite a few lessons from our own failures on the 380," Enders said.
"The core of that problem was the missing thorough integration of processes inside Airbus," he said. "We have changed that already in the last two years ... and we're on our way to improving them further."
Enders said Airbus was studying the production problems that Boeing currently faces with its supply chain and slow progress on the assembly line, but said he was confident both companies' supply chains were up to par.
"I'm sure that Boeing has taken some lessons from our failures. We are in turn studying carefully what we should take from their problems on the 787," he said. "For supply chain to come to that point is a major concern."
"But we believe we have every reason to assume that our supply chain ... can match the ramp up that we and our competitor have ahead of us," Enders said.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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