Airbus dampens doubts over A38o delivery target

Paris: European planemaker Airbus reaffirmed its goal of delivering 18 A380 superjumbos in 2009 after a poll found that airlines were casting doubt on the plan.

Bloomberg reported that customers of the world's largest airliner had told the news service in a poll that Airbus may fail to meet the delivery target, which helps determine parent EADS's revenues.

Airbus is more likely to deliver 15 aircraft, it said, triggering a revenue shortfall of $1 billion compared to its 2009 target for the plane, which sells for $327.5 million at list prices.

Planemakers are paid most of the value of an aircraft when they deliver it.

"It is our objective to deliver 18 aircraft this year. We announced this objective in January and this has not changed," Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said.

The target was recently reduced from 21 planes.

The double-decker A380 is over two years late because of wiring installation problems and Airbus has repeatedly been forced to downgrade its delivery targets.

Airbus has sold 200 A380s to 15 airlines and one private customer. So far it has delivered 13.

Airbus has meanwhile told analysts it broke out of negative sales territory in March to notch up a total of 8 net aircraft sales in the first quarter.

In January and February, airlines had cancelled more planes than either Airbus or its rival Boeing received in new orders, leaving them with net negative sales.

Airbus sales chief John Leahy told analysts in a presentation last week that Airbus net sales in the first quarter were worth $1.8 billion at list prices.

A copy of his slides was published on the website of parent EADS. The types of planes sold in March were not identified.

EADS shares fell 0.2 per cent to 9.426 euros, in line with the market.

At the end of February, Airbus had reported net negative sales of 8 aircraft, meaning it received 8 more cancellations than orders. Airbus has not yet published March order data.

In an end-quarter update, Boeing said on Thursday it had received 28 orders and 32 cancellations so far this year. It also said it had delivered 121 commercial planes in the first quarter, up from 115 a year earlier.

Boeing, which is struggling to recover from a two-month strike by its assembly workers last year, predicted a further dip in plane orders this year.