Airbus CEO Sees Order Volume Down In 2012
November 24, 2011
Airbus expects to receive fewer new orders in 2012 compared with this year, when customers snapped up the new A320neo aircraft, chief executive Thomas Enders said in a newspaper interview.
"There won't be the same kind of fireworks of new orders in 2012 as there were this year," Enders told German daily Boersen-Zeitung in an interview published on Thursday.
Despite fears of recession, the world's leading plane makers have had a harvest of plane orders this year after moving to upgrade their best-selling models -- the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 -- with new engines capable of saving 12-15 percent of fuel.
Airbus took the lead by promising to introduce the revamped A320neo from 2015 and has sold more than 1,000 of the aircraft, making what the EADS unit claims as the fastest-selling launch.
It has been considering raising its production rate for the A320 to 44 aircraft per month and is expected to make a decision on the matter soon.
Enders said Airbus was not yet ready to make a decision on a production increase, though, as it first wanted to be able to assess current economic developments.
"But the demand of airlines is there, and for the second half of the decade, when the "neo" comes in 2015, a further production increase is certainly imaginable," he added.
Enders also said that the weak economy was making it more difficult for some small and medium-sized suppliers to obtain financing, and that banks were shying away from aircraft financing.
"We have to find new sources of financing. The capital markets in China and Japan provide many opportunities, to name just two examples from Asia," he said.
"We must learn to live in a weak and volatile market environment, in which Asia is playing an ever greater role, not just as buyers of our products, but also in financing," he said.
"There won't be the same kind of fireworks of new orders in 2012 as there were this year," Enders told German daily Boersen-Zeitung in an interview published on Thursday.
Despite fears of recession, the world's leading plane makers have had a harvest of plane orders this year after moving to upgrade their best-selling models -- the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 -- with new engines capable of saving 12-15 percent of fuel.
Airbus took the lead by promising to introduce the revamped A320neo from 2015 and has sold more than 1,000 of the aircraft, making what the EADS unit claims as the fastest-selling launch.
It has been considering raising its production rate for the A320 to 44 aircraft per month and is expected to make a decision on the matter soon.
Enders said Airbus was not yet ready to make a decision on a production increase, though, as it first wanted to be able to assess current economic developments.
"But the demand of airlines is there, and for the second half of the decade, when the "neo" comes in 2015, a further production increase is certainly imaginable," he added.
Enders also said that the weak economy was making it more difficult for some small and medium-sized suppliers to obtain financing, and that banks were shying away from aircraft financing.
"We have to find new sources of financing. The capital markets in China and Japan provide many opportunities, to name just two examples from Asia," he said.
"We must learn to live in a weak and volatile market environment, in which Asia is playing an ever greater role, not just as buyers of our products, but also in financing," he said.
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