The aerospace industry will be in sharp focus next week when one of its biggest shows opens near London amid a crisis at the European group Airbus that has helped boost the standing of United States rival Boeing.
The week-long Farnborough International Airshow, a traditional battleground between aerospace firms competing for orders, comes as Airbus is caught in a storm of bad publicity after revealing production problems in June.
Airbus announced that it had run into manufacturing problems with its A380 superjumbo jet that would delay deliveries of the world’s largest passenger aircraft, which is due to enter service in 2007.
Compounding its troubles, on Monday Airbus announced a sharp fall in overall orders for its passenger aircraft, a further setback in its battle with Chicago-based Boeing and a sign that the US group was on the rise.
“Airbus, which traditionally holds back confirmed orders ahead of such exhibits, should announce between 50 and 100 [new orders] at Farnborough,” Oddo Securities analyst Yan Derocles said ahead of the airshow which begins on Monday.
“But all depends on whether or not it unveils a new A350 programme.”
On top of problems with the A380, Airbus has had to redesign its A350 model, which it launched in 2005 as a direct rival to Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.
Boeing is winning the race in the long-haul market with the 787, which is being marketed to airlines as a fuel efficient, medium-sized jet.
By contrast, the A350 has been poorly received by potential customers and is being overhauled to make it bigger and more fuel efficient.
Some analysts believe the A350 will re-emerge as the A370 and might be unveiled by Airbus at Farnborough.
The event’s 45th edition, as in previous years, was set to attract a mix of industry executives and plane enthusiasts and focus mainly on civil aviation, although deals concerning military aircraft were also expected.
The 555-seat Airbus A380 was to take part in daily flying displays at the biennial air show which runs until July 23.
Derocles said that Farnborough could see “one or two” announcements regarding new A380 orders, with German airline Lufthansa rumoured to be looking to add to its 15 firm orders.
Airbus has had 159 orders for the A380 so far from 16 different airlines, but the orders have dried up this year without a single deal reported.
Airbus commercial director John Leahy said last week that the group was likely to receive 20 new orders for the A380 before the end of the year and hinted that some of the orders could be from Asian airlines.
On Monday, Airbus announced that it had booked only 117 firm orders across all its passenger jets in the first six months of 2006, fewer than half the number in the same period of 2005.
Boeing reported 480 orders on July 5, four times more than Airbus over roughly the same period. Reversing this trend was expected to be a key challenge for the new Airbus chief executive, Christian Streiff, who took over at the beginning of the month.
Streiff, a former top executive for the French industrial group Saint Gobain, replaced Gustav Humbert, who stepped down owing to the A380 crisis.
News of delays to the superjumbo had wiped €5,5-billion ($6,5-billion) off the market value of the European Aeronautics Defence and Space Company (EADS), which owns 80% of Airbus. – AFP