Airbus and Boeing all set to renew battle this year |
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Mon, 23 Jan 2006 02:05
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LONDON - It might have been a had year for airlines, which had to struggle with the soaring fuel prices and dipping bottom lines, but for Airbus and Boeing, the plane manufacturers, it was a record year in terms of earnings and deliveries.
In total around 2140 orders were placed in the last year. Out of these, Airbus had a total of 1,055, while rivals Boeing had total orders of 1,002. This is the fifth year running that Airbus has beaten Boeing as far as orders are concerned. Airbus also said that it delivered around 378 airliners last year as compared to Boeing's 290.
The fierce rivalry between the two is all set to continue this year as well. Releasing the figures for last year, Airbus CEO Gustav Humbert said that in the eleven months ending November 30, the Toulouse, France-based firm had netted in 687 definite orders. "We had a very busy December," Humbert confirmed.
However, he admitted that Boeing had walked away with orders for bigger and hence more expensive planes, Airbus' record in this segment dropped to 45 percent from the 54 percent in 2004, "We're not happy with this situation," he acknowledged. "And therefore we'll have a special look at this. But there's no need to panic -- one year doesn't make a trend."
The total orders in 2005 came to $95.9 billion for Airbus, while they were $177 billion for Boeing thanks largely to the wide body long haul plane sales. Humbert promised that Airbus was looking at this segment, "We can and will do better in the long-range field," he said. "If we think something has to be done, then I will act very quickly, but nothing is on the table."
Sales of aircraft have been booming in recent times due to the mergence of low-cost airlines mainly in emerging markets of China and India.
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