European planemaker Airbus expects orders to pick up in the second half of 2011 after a year of consolidation for the airline industry in 2010, the head of its UK business told Reuters on Friday. "We see 2010 as a low year for orders, but our order backlog, which is around 3,500 planes, should help us through the year," Tom Williams said.
"We see order numbers picking up in H2 2011, but not to 2007 levels," he added. Williams said 2010 was likely to be a "year of consolidation" for the airline industry globally, but that the worst of the downturn seemed to be over. "It seems like it will be a V shaped recovery rather than a W shaped one, which was feared," he said. Airbus was likely to deliver around the same number of planes this year as it did in 2009, when it delivered 498 aircraft, Williams said.
The group should produce 20 A380s this year, while the A350 model was on track to have its maiden flight in 2012, he added. Williams declined to comment on financing talks with customers for the A400M military transport plane, other than saying that talks were progressing.