Airbus unfazed in Dubai

If Boeing hogged the headlines on Sunday with its windfall orders worth $9.7 billion from Emirates, Airbus was confident the future was theirs.

"We have the biggest backlog of aircraft orders topping 210 billion euros [Dh905.37 billion] with more than six years of orders to deliver," said Noel Forgeard, one of two chief executive officers of European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co (EADS).

"This is significantly bigger than Boeing's," the EADS chief said at the Dubai 2005 Air Show yesterday.

When asked to comment on industry observers' opinions that political influence swayed some of the orders in the region in Boeing's favour, Airbus officials ruled it out.

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"But this region is very competitive for defence products and our clients are very knowledgeable," he said.

Forgeard noted that companies faced tough competition worldwide in defence contracts.

"So companies in Europe are taking a pan-European approach to face US competition," he said.

He asserted that, in the commercial sector, Airbus dominated the Middle East and North Africa.

"Our revenues for last year were 2.3 billion euros and we have an order backlog totalling 24 billion euros," he said.

It has secured fresh orders from the Middle East worth 7.6 billion euros, he added.

"Emirates is our largest customer in the Middle East. While Qatar Airways is not the largest, it is the biggest sole Airbus fleet owner," he said.

EADS Group includes Airbus and has a major stake in the Eurofighter consortium.

The group's revenues reached 32 billion euros in the first nine months of this year, with a 41 per cent growth in operating profits amounting to 2.1 billion euros, said Forgeard.

Seven per cent of its yearly sales are ploughed into research and development and innovation.

Forgeard shrugged off questions on the six-month delay in deliveries of the A380 superjumbo and the issue of compensating client airlines.

"A six-month delay is not big in the history of airlines. It is not the end of the world. Instead of delivering the first aircraft [to Singapore Airlines] in the second quarter of next year we are delivering it in the fourth quarter," he said.

EADS, which is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services, set up the defence and security systems division in 2003.

"The business is changing from being only defence related in the past to defence and security today. Certainly since 9/11 the requirements have changed," said Dr Stefan Zoller, chief executive officer of EADS