Airbus's Chief Operating Officer John Leahy put on a brave face yesterday, sticking with a target of 300 orders for the year after Vietnam Airlines said it would buy 16 A321 single-aisle jets and signed a tentative deal for two A350s, which would take the deal's value to $1.9 billion (Dh5.87bn).
"Of course, the figure could be less, but I'm keeping this target," Leahy said.
Boeing's commercial planes marketing chief Randy Tinseth said the still-tight credit markets were not expected to hit its delivery target of 480-485 planes this year but stopped short of forecasting for 2010.
"It's clearly a very difficult time for our airline customers in the light of the worldwide recession. We're working closely with them to better understand their needs and wants," he said.
"It doesn't look like we'll have any deliveries delayed or cancelled as a result of airlines not being able to get funding or the price of that funding," Tinseth said, but added there was "a lot of volatility and uncertainty" in the future.
Airbus and Boeing were riding high at the last Paris show, in 2007, when orders topped 2,700 planes for the year, yet Airbus arrived in Paris this week with a 2009 total of just 11 and Boeing had none. Airlines, faced with falling demand and tight credit, are cancelling and deferring orders as fast as planemakers can book new ones. Planemakers enjoyed a huge upswing in deals that peaked in 2007, swelling their order backlogs and leaving Airbus and Boeing with several years of business to work through.
Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders said his company would move ahead with its next model, the A350, telling reporters it would cost about €11 billion euros (Dh56bn). He said Airbus did not expect to have to offer buyers more than €1bn in financing this year despite tough credit conditions.
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