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Airbus braced for dip in orders
Sep 30 2008 by Tony McDonough, Liverpool Daily Post
ORDERS for new Airbus planes could take a dip next year as airlines face bankruptcy or struggle to raise new capital, a senior executive has admitted.
John Leahy, the planemaker’s chief operating officer (sales), did add, however, that a number of carriers had secured funding for their current orders, despite the credit crunch.
Mr Leahy was speaking at the opening ceremony for Airbus’s new £325m final assembly line for its A320 plane.
The plant, the most modern of its kind in the world, is designed to establish a foothold in China's booming aviation market, which is growing at 14.5% a year.
The firm hopes the new facility will help it stay ahead of its US rival, Boeing.
The Airbus plant at Broughton, in Deeside, will lose its status as the sole supplier of wings for all Airbus planes as Chinese manufacturers will provide the wings for the A320 single-aisle jets made at Tianjin.
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