Airbus beats Boeing but sees tough year

Airbus held onto the top spot in global jetliner production for the sixth year running last year with a seven per cent rise in deliveries to a record 483 planes, the European planemaker said yesterday.

In a widely expected shift, Airbus also confirmed it had outsold Boeing last year with net orders for 777 planes, down 42 per cent from the previous year, though figures from both planemakers show the economy halting a three-year aviation boom.

Airbus sold planes worth €76 billion last year, giving it a market share of 54 per cent and lifting its backlog to 3,715 jets - just one more than rival Boeing, whose sales had been expected to cool after it smashed an industry record in 2007.

Unadjusted Airbus orders before cancellations or conversions between its various models reached 900 planes last year.

Asked if Airbus was profitable last year, chief executive officer Tom Enders said: "I would say so, yes."

The company is due to give full results data in March. Boeing's last year's production was hit by a 58-day machinists' strike with deliveries falling 15 per cent to 375 planes. Boeing sold 662 aircraft, down 53 per cent, it said last week.

The latest figures mean global large jetliner production controlled by the two companies fell four per cent to 858 planes last year. But analysts say steeper falls may be necessary as airlines cancel or defer orders to cope with the financial rout.

"Due to economic difficulties, it is more difficult than ever to predict the order intake, but I estimate the book-to-bill (order to delivery) ratio will be below one this year." These combined remarks suggest orders will fall by at least 38 per cent this year, a year Airbus called "very challenging".

Airbus officially cut its A380 superjumbo delivery forecast for this year to 18 planes, Mr Enders said. The planemaker announced yesterday that Air Austral, of the overseas department of La Reunion, had made provisional orders for two A380s in a single-class configuration, for which it has a capacity of over 800 seats.