Company Watch - Airbus.

Mar 19, 2007

Airbus Workers Down Tools To Fight Job Cuts Airbus workers in France, Germany and Spain gathered for protests against 10,000 planned jobs cuts and the sale of six plants on Friday after delays to its A380 superjumbo sparked hefty losses. Mar 16, 2007

Airbus has received authorization to boost A330/A340 production from eight aircraft per month to nine and is contemplating a further increase to 10 owing to the strong sales performance of the A330, COO-Customers John Leahy said yesterday. Speaking to the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading's 24th annual conference in Phoenix, Leahy said the bump to nine will occur in 2009. Should the company decide to raise it to 10, this could occur at the end of that year, he said. While acknowledging that the A330 and A340 share a joint production line, he was candid that A330 sales are driving the increase. Mar 13, 2007

John Leahy said Airbus remains in discussions with GE about providing an engine for the A350 XWB. Although the GEnx was the first engine chosen for the original A350, GE's agreement with Airbus effectively lapsed when the latter scrapped the original program in favor of the XWB last summer. "It's no secret that we would like a second engine," Leahy said, adding that this is owing to customer interest in having more than one supplier on the airframe. In terms of the program, "we don't really need one." The company "is not in a particular rush" to sign GE because the A350 is still six years from service entry. He reiterated his view that Boeing's long head start with the 787 will not cripple the A350's success. "I can give up the first 500-600 orders out of a market for 5,600," he explained. Mar 13, 2007

Aeroflot overhaul to feature 22 A350s, new cargo subsidiary Airbus appeared to be on the verge of winning a significant order yesterday as reports from Moscow indicated that Aeroflot is close to announcing a major buy. Mar 16, 2007

BCI Aircraft Leasing said it acquired two A321-100s from Airbus that are on long-term lease to Alitalia, bringing to five the number of -100s the Chicago-based lessor has placed with Alitalia. Mar 15, 2007

More competition may emerge in aircraft manufacturing, executive says International Lease Finance Chief Executive Steven Udvar-Hazy says Airbus and Boeing may not be the only manufacturers of large commercial jets 20 years from now. He says China, Japan and Russia are interested in building commercial planes. Mar 16, 2007

China hopes to build large jet by 2020 China hopes to start building large commercial jetliners by 2020, a Chinese aviation official said. Observers say the plan is realistic and note that China's agreement to open a final assembly line with Airbus will help its commercial plane program. Mar 12, 2007

Aeroflot Picks Airbus A350s For Long-Haul Russian airline Aeroflot will sign a contract within the next few weeks to buy 22 of Airbus's proposed new long-distance A350 planes instead of Boeing 787s, its chief executive Valery Okulov said on Thursday. Mar 15, 2007

Cebu Pacific To Order Up To 20 A320s Philippine airline Cebu Pacific said on Tuesday it would order up to 20 Airbus A320 planes worth USD$1.3 billion to expand its regional and domestic routes. Mar 13, 2007

Cebu Pacific signed up for 10 more A320s with options and purchase rights on an additional 10. It placed an initial order for 12 A320 family aircraft in September 2004 and took delivery of the last of that order this month. Cebu has been phasing out its fleet of DC-9-30s and 757s. The order is worth $1.3 billion, the Philippine carrier said. No engine choice was announced. Firm aircraft will be delivered in 2010-12 with options arriving in 2011-13. It will take short- and medium-term leases on A320s to fill its need over the next three years, adding 3-4 aircraft each year. If all options are exercised on yesterday's order, it will be operating 32 Airbus aircraft by 2013, doubling its annual passenger load to 10 million. It currently flies 10 A319s and four A320s to 20 domestic and seven international destinations. Mar 14, 2007

A380 operating costs higher than planned, Emirates executive says Operating a fleet of A380 superjumbo jets will cost Emirates more than it originally planned, President Tim Clark says. The airline has ordered 45 planes. "There are still an extra six tons of weight we can't get out of the A380. That will cost us extra money in operation for the next 10 or 15 years," Clark says. Mar 15, 2007

Etihad Airways Rules Out Cancelling A380. Etihad Airways said on Thursday it ruled out cancelling its order for four of Airbus's delayed A380s and may also consider buying the European maker's planned twin-engine A350 as the Gulf Arab carrier expands. Mar 22, 2007

Airbus, in conjunction with Lufthansa and Qantas, will fly development A380s to New York JFK and Los Angeles International next week to demonstrate the aircraft to US media and to test JFK and LAX facilities. Development A380 MSN7, to be operated with assistance from LH , will fly on to Chicago O'Hare after stopping at JFK. An A380 will fly to Washington Dulles on March 25. Mar 15, 2007

TAM took delivery Thursday of its fifth A320 this year, bringing its total fleet to 100. It expects to be flying 109 by year end. Mar 12, 2007

Airbus A380 Set For US Debut - Airbus will fly its A380 superjumbo to the United States for the first time on Monday, hoping the world's largest passenger jet will catch on with American travelers and US airlines. Mar 15, 2007

American Decision on MD-80 Successor Nears. American Airlines will make an announcement regarding fleet renewal "in short order," according to Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey, who conceded that the carrier's more than 300 MD-80s burn too much fuel. He said 737NGs may be a viable replacement. Mar 22, 2007

Dubai International Airport was closed for 8 hr. yesterday following the aborted takeoff of a Biman Bangladesh Airlines A310, which reportedly skidded on the runway and lost its nosewheel. The airport said 27 of 229 people aboard "sustained minor injuries". The accident, resulting in a temporary closure of the Gulf airport. 71 flights were affected by the closure. Incoming flights were diverted to other airports in the United Arab Emirates as well as Muscat, Kuwait and Shiraz. Mar 13, 2007

The A310 one of four operated by the airline, according the AirguideAircraft database - was operating a service to Dhaka. Some reports suggest the aircraft suffered a tyre burst and/or nose-gear collapse during its take-off roll. Pictures of the accident show that the aircraft appears to have come to rest at the far end of Runway 12L with its nose gear collapsed. Mar 13, 2007

China plans to challenge Boeing, Airbus by manufacturing large aircraft China plans to enter the large aircraft manufacturing fray, announcing yesterday via the official state Xinhua News Agency that the "dream" of challenging Boeing and Airbus with domestically produced jets "is expected to come true by 2020 if everything goes well." Mar 13, 2007

Qatar In Talks With EADS To Buy Stake The Gulf state of Qatar on Monday affirmed its interest in taking a stake of up to 10 percent in European aerospace group EADS, which is suffering from problems at its Airbus unit. Mar 12, 2007

US Airways Nears Airbus or Boeing Purchase Decision US Airways is close to ordering 60 A320 family jets or 737NGs to replace its 737-300s and -400s and expects to make a selection by the end of April, according to Senior VP and CFO Derek Kerr. Mar 15, 2007

US Airways close to placing jetliner order, executive says US Airways Chief Financial Officer Derek Kerr said Wednesday the airline is close to ordering 60 A320 or 737NG jetliners. The company will decide between Airbus and Boeing by the end of April, he said. The airline would take delivery of the planes between 2008 and 2010. Mar 15, 2007

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Mar 12, 2007