Airbus SAS is poised to
maintain a lead in sales of new single-aisle jet models even as it
relinquishes the title of world’s largest planemaker to Boeing Co. for
at least three years.
The upgraded Airbus A320neo probably ended
2012 with a market share of 60 percent or more in orders for the newest
narrow-body aircraft, the backbone of global fleets, based on deals
announced ahead of full-year figures due on Jan. 17.
Airbus has
reported 1,654 firm orders since the A320neo was offered in December
2010, and the Toulouse, France-based company usually discloses more
orders when it unveils annual results. Boeing said yesterday that it has
1,064 orders for the 737 Max, a competing jet with new engines that
went on sale in late 2011.
“Both Airbus and Boeing are in good
shape,” said Thomas Picherit, Paris-based analyst at AlphaValue. “The
orders show demand is there to maintain high production rates.”
Shares
of Airbus parent European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. rose as
much as 1.2 percent and were trading 1 percent higher at 30.49 euros as
of 10:48 a.m. in Paris.
Dreamliner Boost
Holding an
advantage in single-aisle planes eases the blow for Airbus with
Chicago-based Boeing retaking the No. 1 position in deliveries for the
first time since 2002. The U.S. company is poised to retain the top spot
for at least two more years, buoyed by rising deliveries of the delayed
787 Dreamliner.
While Airbus wouldn’t comment on 2012 figures
ahead of its report, Chief Operating Officer John Leahy has said he
expects the A320neo to win 60 percent of orders in the race against the
Max. The neo is scheduled to enter service in 2015, about two years
before the Boeing model.
The A320 and 737 families are the
backbone of Airbus and Boeing production, with more than 800 combined
deliveries last year. The rivalry has intensified as the pair’s duopoly
is about to be challenged by new entrants from Canada and China.
Boeing’s
full-year deliveries totaled 601 jets, it said yesterday, while Airbus
handed over 516 planes through November, keeping it on track to reach a
full-year goal of at least 580.
Deliveries are important because
that’s when planemakers get large payments on the purchase price of a
jet. Boeing handed over 46 Dreamliners, beating its goal of as many as
42.
Turkish Deal
Net orders at Boeing climbed 49
percent last year to 1,203, and Airbus has announced 750 sales so far.
Its 2011 total was 1,419, bolstered by demand for the A320neo after its
debut. Airbus’s recent successes include 75 neos sold last month to
Pegasus Airlines, a low-fare Turkish carrier flying 737s.
“We
fight hard on all of these campaigns,” Boeing’s marketing chief, Randy
Tinseth, said yesterday in an interview. “We do the best we can to make
deals that work for our customers and us, and we couldn’t get there on
that one.”
While neither company has given 2013 forecasts,
production increases announced by Boeing indicate it will build more
than 660 aircraft this year, compared with Airbus’s planned output of
more than 600.
Boeing is boosting total airliner production more
than 60 percent in the four years through 2014 in response to customer
demand for more fuel-efficient jets. Howard Rubel, an analyst with
Jefferies Group Inc. in New York, said the company is set to stay ahead
of its rival in deliveries in both 2013 and 2014.
“After that, it
will be whoever has the solution for that mid-range wide-body, which
they’re both going at hammer and tong,” Rubel said. Airbus’s new A350,
the 787’s competitor, is scheduled to enter service in 2015.
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