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selecta · Member Joined: 24 Dec 2006 Posts: 813 Location: ORD

More planes than ever could be sold by end of the year

By JAMES WALLACE
P-I AEROSPACE REPORTER
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Airbus could end the year with well over 1,000 orders, beating an industry record that it established in 2005.

"We will perhaps see more airplanes sold this year than ever before in the history of Airbus," said Colin Stuart, vice president of marketing for Airbus.

And Boeing may not be far behind.

In fact, Stuart said The Boeing Co. and Airbus could combine for a record number of orders this year.

"Further proof if we need it," he added, "that this business continues on an upswing."

It's still possible for Boeing to beat Airbus this year, though it would probably have to win a large order that could be announced next month by Emirates at the Dubai Air Show.

Stuart's comments came this week during a speech to the Cargo Facts industry conference in Seattle hosted by Seattle-based Air Cargo Management Group.

Over the past three years, Boeing and Airbus have won orders for nearly 6,000 jets. Stuart described what's happening in the market as an "order frenzy."

"It's incredible," Stuart said. "And it's not over yet. We are continuing to see airlines very keen to place orders for Airbus, and I think Boeing, jets," he added.

Speaking to the same conference Wednesday, Larry Dickenson, the head of Boeing's jetliner sales unit, said the current industry upturn is unlike any the industry has seen before.

"It is the strongest cycle we have ever seen," he said.

The current cycle, he noted, followed four years when orders were way down.

Airbus won 1,055 net orders in 2005, or 1,111 gross orders before cancellations. Both were industry records. Boeing, however, was not far behind. It won 1,029 gross orders that year. Its net total was 1,002.

In 2006, Boeing beat Airbus in orders for the first time since 2000. Boeing ended the year with 1,044 net orders and 1,050 gross. Both were Boeing records.

Airbus ended 2006 with 824 gross orders, its second-best year ever. But the year was marked by serious delays to its A380 and a shakeup of its top management.

Boeing is ahead of Airbus in orders again this year, but the figures do not include another strong showing by Airbus so far this month.

Stuart said Airbus has won firm orders and commitments for 282 jets since British Airways announced late last month that it will buy a dozen A380s. None of those have been added to the Airbus total of 854 gross orders through September, he said.

"Take a look at this, it's incredible," Stuart said of the Airbus orders just this month.

He noted that Airbus signed 425 firm orders from 19 customers in June at the Paris Air Show.

"It's another outstanding year," Stuart said.

Airbus will not update its totals until early November. Boeing updates its order tally weekly and will do so Thursday. As of last week, Boeing had 908 gross orders for the year and 898 net.

The current Boeing figures do not include 24 787s that British Airways said it would order along with the Airbus planes.

On the freighter side of Boeing's business, the company is likely to end 2007 with a record number of orders -- for the third straight year, said Jim Edgar, regional director of marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He attended the cargo conference.

Boeing won orders for 71 production freighters in 2005 and 81 in 2006. It has 70 freighter orders this year and only needs a dozen more to break last year's record. Boeing's production freighters are the 767-300 and 747-400, as well as the 777 and 747-8 freighters in development.

Dickenson would not say whether he expects Boeing to end the year with more than 1,000 orders. In a conference call two months ago, Boeing Chairman and CEO Jim McNerney said he thought Boeing could crack the 1,000-plane barrier for the third straight year if the ongoing order campaigns at the time broke the company's way.

One of the year's biggest orders could come next month at the Dubai Air Show. Emirates has said it could place an order for as many as 100 planes. The battle is between Boeing's 787 and the Airbus A350.

Both Stuart and Dickenson said the current industry upcycle, which has been driven mainly by orders from Asia and Europe, shows no signs of ending any time soon. U.S. airlines, for example, are still expected to order large numbers of jets in the next year or two.

Stuart noted that Boeing and Airbus are predicting that worldwide airline passenger traffic will double in the next 15 years.

Airbus will deliver about 450 planes this year, the most ever for the airplane maker.

Still, orders are coming in faster than planes are going out the factory door.

"We continue to increase our backlog beyond what you might think is reasonable," Stuart said.

Both the Boeing and Airbus backlogs are growing. Airbus has enough orders today to keep building jets at present rates for five years, Stuart said.

"We can't deliver enough aircraft," he said of the current demand.
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saurabhm_101 · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 529 Location: Mumbai

i think they should aim at making history by on-time delivery instead of orders... they can get 2000 orders also... but thats not what matters... on-time delivery is the key here...!
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