Airbus Shows Optimism For A350 Sales

Yesterday, Airbus saw a big boost in its sales of its A350, and is optimistic that it will see a lot more. Yesterday Qatar Airways announced that it intends to buy 60 of them. Before that, Airbus only had orders for 10 A350s. Qatar's deal for the 60 A350s is worth about $10.6 billion. Today, Airbus announced that ALAFCO has ordered 12 A350s with options on six more, and Jet Airways has ordered 10 A330s with options on 10 more.

According to AP, Forgeard said the European aircraft maker would deliver at least 360 planes this year. Airbus had said earlier this year it expected to deliver 350 to 360 planes in 2005, after delivering 320 in 2004. The A350 is designed to compete with Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, and the United States and the European Union have filed complaints against each other at the World Trade Organization over what both say are unfair subsidies to the aircraft makers. The EU filed a complaint claiming that Boeing gets illegal aid through military contracts. The U.S. on the other hand had already accused Airbus of getting illegal aid. The U.S. and EU had been having talks and trying to negotiate on this matter for months, trying to avoid this legal action with the WTO, but that changed when the U.S. backed out of the talks and went to the WTO. So naturally, the EU did what was expected and filed a counter complaint. Mr. Forgeard is set to become a co-CEO of Airbus parent company EADS. He said that he has no intention of retaining control over Airbus when he assumes his new role. EADS hasn't had a CEO for a month. Chris is a staff writer for latest ebusiness news.