Things seem to be looking up for Airbus as it gets more orders for its A350. The company is optimistic that many more orders will come soon. Yesterday Qatar Airways announced that it intends to buy 60 of them.
That deal is worth about $10.6 billion. Prior to Qatar’s order, the aircraft maker only had orders for 10 A350s. Now they have orders for 12 A350s from ALAFCO with options on six more, and Jet Airways has ordered 10 A330s with options on 10 more.
Forgeard said the European aircraft maker would deliver at least 360 planes this year. Airbus had said earlier this year it expected to deliver 350 to 360 planes in 2005, after delivering 320 in 2004.
The A350 is designed to compete with Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, and the United States and the European Union have filed complaints against each other at the World Trade Organization over what both say are unfair subsidies to the aircraft makers.
The EU filed a complaint claiming that Boeing gets illegal aid through military contracts. The U.S. on the other hand had already accused Airbus of getting illegal aid.
The U.S. and EU had been having talks and trying to negotiate on this matter for months, trying to avoid this legal action with the WTO, but that changed when the U.S. backed out of the talks and went to the WTO. So naturally, the EU did what was expected and filed a counter complaint.
Mr. Forgeard is set to become a co-CEO of Airbus parent company EADS. He said that he has no intention of retaining control over Airbus when he assumes his new role. EADS hasn’t had a CEO for a month.
Chris is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
