Airbus has set a target for 700 to 750 plane orders in 2013, Reuters has reported. It will hit about half of that by June.
“We’re still targeting 700 to 750 (orders) so we should be there by the end of the year, and by Le Bourget (air show) a little of a half of that,” commercial director John Leahy reportedly said.
The manufacturer has recently received record orders. Turkish Airlines has ordered 82 planes, while Germany’s Lufthansa has ordered 100 A320s and two A380s in a deal worth $11.2 billion at current list prices. Further, Indonesia’s Lion Air placed an order for 234 medium-haul jets worth $24 billion at list prices.
“That (Lion Air contract) was already in the numbers, we’ve been working on this for over six months,” Leahy reportedly said.
The planemaker, which won 181 aircraft orders in the first two months of 2013, is also awaiting confirmation of a tentative $2.8 billion order for 16 A320neo revamped aircraft from Hawaiian Airways.
Asked whether Airbus is going to increase the production of its A320 medium-haul aircraft, Leahy said there was “no rush” to take such a decision. “A lot depends on our supply chain. Clearly the demand is there,” he said.
