Airbus flies past American rival.Byline: By DAVID JONES David Jones is a common name, particularly in Wales, and there have been several well-known individuals with this name. Variations include Dave Jones and Davy Jones. Business Correspondent AIRBUS is expected to officially confirm next week that it delivered more commercial jets than its American rival Boeing last year. That will give a huge boost to aerospace engineers at Broughton in north east Wales East Wales is the easternmost part of Wales. The area is loosely-defined, but generally is said to include the traditional counties of Monmouthshire (including the city of Newport), Brecknockshire, Radnorshire, Montgomeryshire (i.e. much of Powys), Flintshire and Denbighshire. who build the wings for Airbus passenger jets and where production facilities have been ramped up in recent years to cope with increased sales. Although the company will not reveal final totals for new orders and deliveries until Tuesday it is thought to have flown past its US competitor for the third year in a row to secure the spot as the world's Number One planemaker. Chicago-based Boeing said it delivered 290 airliners in 2005, up slightly from 2004. But it hopes to soon reclaim the top spot after booming sales of its new 787 Dreamliner - a medium-sized, long range jet - helped it secure a record 1,002 airplane orders in 2005. Airbus began to deliver more commercial aircraft than Boeing in 2003 as a result of its much bigger order backlog amassed over previous years. But the American company fought back last year with an aggressive sales campaign Noun 1. sales campaign - an advertising campaign intended to promote sales ad blitz, ad campaign, advertising campaign - an organized program of advertisements sales campaign n → campaña de venta and the launch of its first all-new model for years, the 787. Airbus posted 271 deliveries for the year up to September 30 and said in November it was on target to hit 370 deliveries by year end. The bulk of Boeing's deliveries for the year were for its older, single-aisle 737. Similarly, the A320 family is Airbus's best selling product and the workhorse work·horse n. 1. Something, such as a machine, that performs dependably under heavy or prolonged use: "the 50-year-old DC-3 ... of its medium-haul, narrow-body fleet. Earlier this week Airbus said it was planning to double its spending on research and technology within two years to develop a new generation of single-aisle aircraft to replace the A320 range over the next decade. Noel Forgeard, Airbus co-chief executive, said: "We are actively preparing the launch of new generations of medium-range aircraft with fuselages that are mostly made of composite materials with very low-cost production." Carbon-fibre composite materials, rather than aluminium, are to be used in Airbus jet wings for the first time in the new A350 jet. It means the new generation of jets will be lighter and therefore more fuel efficient than existing passenger aircraft. david David, in the Bible David, d. c.970 B.C., king of ancient Israel (c.1010–970 B.C.), successor of Saul. The Book of First Samuel introduces him as the youngest of eight sons who is anointed king by Samuel to replace Saul, who had been deemed a failure. .r.jones@dailypost.co.uk |
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