PARIS — Airbus overcame technical toilet troubles and engine delays to gain hundreds more plane orders in 2015 than rival Boeing, but China’s economic slowdown stands to cloud this year for both companies.
Airbus SA and Boeing Co. are battling to win market share in China, forecast to become the world’s biggest air-travel market in a little more than a decade. But concerns about China’s plunging financial markets and slowing growth are rippling throughout Asia, where a growing middle class has driven demand for new airplanes in recent years.
Airbus Chief Executive Officer Fabrice Bregier on Tuesday largely shrugged off the recent market turmoil, insisting that his company in Toulouse, France, is sticking to plans for a new facility in Tianjin, China, next month and to its overall strategy in China.
“We should not mix up problems we can see on the financial markets and the real economy,” he said in Paris while presenting Airbus’ annual orders and forecast for the year.
Bregier predicted that new U.S. visa policies would increase Chinese air travel and that Asian middle-class demand would continue to grow.
As its economy slows, China is trying to shift its focus away from manufacturing and toward consumer spending. That could help increase air travel, but only if the economy does not suffer a sharp drop.
Chicago-based Boeing reached a deal last year to build an assembly plant in China, as the U.S. company tries to match Airbus’ presence in the world’s secondlargest economy.
China, too, is trying to get in on the industry. Chinese state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp. has unveiled the C919, the first plane produced by a Chinese initiative to compete in the market for large passenger jetliners. Bregier downplayed the potential Chinese challenger.
Airbus executives remain upbeat about the overall aviation industry despite signs that aircraft demand is slowing. The International Air Transport Association recently lowered its longterm air traffic forecast and warned that low oil prices have hurt prospects in key emerging markets such as Russia and Brazil.
Airbus is ramping up production in 2016, especially of the new A350 wide-body, to keep up with the pace of orders — and to try to catch up with Boeing’s dominance in aircraft deliveries.
Increased automation and “digitalization” — including 3-D printing of some plane components — will be key to increased production, Bregier said.
Airbus said Tuesday that it exceeded its targets in 2015, taking in 1,036 net orders and delivering 635 jets to airlines and other buyers. The manufacturer says it has a backlog of 6,787 aircraft worth $996.3 billion at list prices, though customers usually negotiate discounts.
Boeing says on its website that it took in 768 orders last year and delivered 762 aircraft.
Boeing had more success selling big-budget, widebody jets such as the 787. Most of the planes Airbus sold were from the singleaisle A320 family of jets.
Airbus hopes to deliver more than 650 planes this year.
Bregier said the proportion of single-aisle versus longer-haul jets would remain roughly the same.
The company’s topselling plane, the A320neo, suffered last-minute engine delays and is being delivered to its first customer this month. Airbus also faced certification and production problems with Zodiac Aerospace, a company supplying seats and toilets for the A350.
Airbus announced a late firm order for three A380 superjumbos — its first sale for the costly 500-seater in all of 2015. The plane-maker wouldn’t reveal the customer, though it’s reported to be Japan’s All Nippon Airways.
Chief salesman John Leahy said the A380 is “still very important to us” despite slack sales and that the company hopes to break even on the program this year.