London: Airbus, the world's largest aircraft maker, can double the 131 orders it received in the first half of the year during this week's Farnborough Air Show as global travel rebounds, Chief Operating Officer John Leahy said.

"You'll be surprised by some of the announcements we'll make," Leahy told journalists at a press conference in London yesterday.

"The world economy is turning around, we're tracking this every month. Traffic is back both in the front of the aircraft and in the back," he said.

Emirates A380 order

Leahy predicted the company, the world's largest maker of commercial aircraft, will secure more orders for the A380 superjumbo this year, after Emirates agreed to buy an additional 32 of the largest passenger jet last month, bringing its A380 backlog to 90.

The jet is attractive to the Middle Eastern carrier because it can connect 95 per cent of the global population through its Dubai hub, Leahy said.

The A380 is operated by five airlines, including Singapore Airlines, Deutsche Lufthansa, Qantas Airways and Air France KLM Group.

Airbus delivered its tenth A380, which typically seats more than 500 passengers, for this year last week, and plans to hand over more than 20 units in total in 2010.

Leahy said the jet is sold out until 2015, and that the programme will likely break even a year before then.

The biannual Farnborough Air Show is the industry's biggest showcase, with exhibitors from 38 countries signed up to participate this year.

Boeing, which was overtaken by Airbus as the industry leader in 2003, is bringing its 787 model to the show, the jet's first appearance in Europe. The Chicago-based company said on Thursday that it may have to further postpone first deliveries until early 2011 as flight-test delays accumulate.

Among prospective buyers that are likely to place orders at the show are leasing companies, which had held back during the recession.

Steven Udvar-Hazy, who left International Lease Finance Corp. this year to form Air Lease, has secured $3.3 billion (Dh12.1 billion) in financing and has begun acquiring aircraft.

"The market's coming back," said Louis Gallois, the chief executive of Airbus parent company European Aeronautic Defence and Space. "We have a backlog that looks good, we have lots of visibility and sense more and more that companies are interested," he said.