Airbus sees strong Asia demand as driver for successful year of sales

2019 should be an excellent year for Airbus as it looks to achieve more sales than deliveries for large jets which it attributes to strong demand from Asia. The results are better than were anticipated, thanks to the launch of a new long-range variant of the A321, with new CCO Christian Scherer suggesting that Airbus could well top the 1,000-plane gross order level, an increase of 20% compared to 2018. However, Scherer also warned that while results have shown strong performance despite U.S. tariffs on Airbus’ jets, these tariffs still pose a “very serious problem” for the clients of airlines.

Scherer added that Airbus would show a book-to-bill ratio above one for every aircraft program, i.e. net orders after cancellations would be greater than the number of aircraft delivered. After cancellations, the European planemaker achieved 940 gross sales and 718 net orders in the 11 months up to the end of November. Owing to delays with A321neo production, Airbus expects to deliver 760 units this year and is giving serious consideration to the establishment of a new production line for the A321 neo.

According to Reuters news agency, Boeing sold 243 jets or an unadjusted net total of 56 after cancellations between January and November. That excludes a tentative deal from British Airways owner IAG for 200 of its grounded 737 MAX jets that remains unconfirmed. Though 737 MAX production is now on hold, Boeing has sold 75 of its 787 Dreamliners. Scherer also denied that Airbus stood to benefit from rival Boeing’s decision to suspend production the 737 MAX, emphasizing that the disruption would hurt the sector at large. “We’re in a growth industry,” Scherer said on a conference call with French aerospace journalists. “When you have one player that isn’t playing its part, it’s extremely destructive,” he added, referring to the balance of the aircraft market rather than Boeing’s efforts to get changes to the jet approved.