Airbus expects 'triple digit' A350 orders at LeBourget

[marcogiov]

Airbus expects 'triple digit' A350 orders at LeBourget
Thursday May 19, 2005
Airbus Chief Commercial Officer John Leahy is confident he will be able to announce "triple digit" orders for the A350 at the Paris Air Show next month."We are in final talks with several companies. We'll have more than 100 firm orders in the order book for the A350. I don't want to say 200, because I don't want to be like somebody else and not be able to commit to it," he said in a reference to claims made by Boeing ahead of the 2004 Farnborough Air Show that it would have 200 787 commitments by year end, a target it missed by a few months.

Speaking at the Airbus Technical Press Briefing in Toulouse yesterday, Leahy, who is recovering from a five-week absence owing to health problems, stressed that the A350 no longer is a derivative of the A330. "This is an all-new aircraft," he said. "Since December we improved width, range, seat costs, economics. . .We changed the aircraft three or four times in the past 90 days. We achieved an eight-tonne weight reduction through the use of new technologies. Sixty percent of the A350 structure is in advanced materials."

He also admitted that maybe "there was a little push to bring [the A350] out in 2009. I did. Gerard [Blanc] argued to wait, [saying] 'let's get it right first'. . .I now see the wisdom of that."

On the A380, Leahy sees "good prospects" with some US Majors despite their financial trouble. "There won't be an imminent announcement, but we are in discussion with the two American Majors that currently operate 747s," he stated. The two US Major passenger airlines operating 747-400s are Northwest, which recently ordered the 787, and United Airlines, currently in Chapter 11.

Leahy added that Airbus is also in talks with Cathay Pacific regarding the A380, "and we're confident they will place an order soon." And British Airways will come around, he stated. "With BA it's not a matter of if but of when. One of the biggest hubs of the A380 will be London Heathrow. It's just not possible for BA not to operate the aircraft in BA colors."

by Cathy Buyck
ATWOnline

[FlyIce]

In Origine postato da marcogiov
Airbus expects 'triple digit' A350 orders at LeBourget...

Mi sa che li hanno già in portafoglio e non li hanno ancora annunciati ...
... vedo probabile il sorpasso di ordini di A su B per il 2005 ...

A e B hanno politiche commerciali molto diverse: gli americani sbandierano i contratti preliminari come se fosserò già ordini fermi, in europa invece vengono annunciati gli ordini solo un po' dopo la firma definitiva.

In aggiunta credo che scopriremo che il 350 verrà fuori un po' diverso (e probabilmente migliore) da quello annunciato pochi mesi fa.