Airbus believes its plans to improve its planned A350 widebody jet will boost its chances of winning major orders from Singapore Airlines and Emirates, its chief executive said on May 17.
Singapore had been expected to make a final decision on a 70-plane order in early May but has held off as Airbus returns to the drawing board to see what design changes are needed to counter the success of Boeing's rival 787 Dreamliner.
Emirates has been mulling a potentially $20 billion order for aircraft but said it was in no hurry to commit. "Singapore (Airlines) were ready to make a decision at the beginning of May and delayed their decision," Airbus Chief Executive Gustav Humbert said.
"I think one of the reasons is that we told them we would work on the A350. Otherwise there wouldn't have been any necessity. So I think what we are doing inside Airbus is getting attraction from our customers and we are starting to get momentum," he told reporters at the Berlin air show.
"Therefore we will make a decision soon and I think we will have a good chance with Singapore Airlines."
Asked about Airbus's chances with Emirates, he said, "It is a great company and one of the biggest Airbus customers, and certainly our target is to convince Emirates that we have the right 350. I think we have a good chance."
Airbus parent EADS said on Tuesday that a decision would be taken by the Farnborough, England industry air show in July.
Airbus launched the A350 last year but was stung by recent criticism of its widebody strategy from several key customers including Singapore Airlines, which described the decision to base the A350 on an earlier Airbus model, the A330, as too conservative.
Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, which makes greater use of new lightweight materials, has 350 firm orders compared with 100 for the Airbus A350.
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