Airbus grabs record number of orders

Airbus took in a record number of orders for new commercial aircraft last year as strong demand for its revamped single-aisle plane helped it best U.S. rival Boeing Co. in the race for orders for the fourth year running.


The European jet maker said Tuesday that it took in 1,419 net new orders in 2011, worth $140 billion, well above Boeing's total of 805 aircraft. That topped the previous record of 1,413 net orders recorded by Boeing in 2007.


Airbus also delivered 534 aircraft last year, up from 510 a year earlier and keeping the title of world's biggest jet maker that it has held since 2003. Boeing delivered 477 aircraft in 2011.


For this year, Airbus targets around 570 jet deliveries, including about 30 of its A380 super jumbo, the world's largest commercial jet.


Louis Gallois, the CEO of Airbus parent company EADS, said 2011 revenue will be "nicely above" the euro45.8 billion recorded in 2010. EADS reports its 2011 earnings in early March.


Gallois is due to retire in May but the EADS executive declined to comment on his succession plans. He spoke more freely about the ongoing European financial crisis, saying that the credit downgrades of nine European countries including France by rating agency Standard & Poor's last week "is only making things more complex."


"We need stronger and faster European coordination to solve the crisis," Gallois said. He offered up Airbus and EADS as an example for European leaders to draw on. "We are more than a symbol of European integration. We are the part of Europe that works," Gallois said.


The company plans on hitting a target of 570 deliveries during 2012, but foresees commercial orders dropping more than 50% to between 600 and 650.


Even so, Airbus wants to hit an all-time production high of 42 aircraft a month in 2012 of the single-aisle A320. It also wants to meet a monthly goal of 9.5 wide-body twin-engine A330s and produce three of its double-decker A380 super jumbo jets each month.


The production increase should bode well for Airbus suppliers in the U.S., more than 100 of which are in California. For the last three years, the company, which is based in Toulouse, France, has increased its spending in the U.S. to $10 billion.


“The continuous ramp-up to unprecedented production rates in all programs will demand a strong focus on the supply chain and our own delivery capabilities,” Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders said in a statement. “The hiring of more than 4,000 skilled people in 2012 will further support achieving this goal.