Airbus exec says A380 deliveries now secure in 2015

PARIS – A recent order for 50 A380 jetliners from Emirates has secured deliveries of the superjumbo in 2015, but manufacturer Airbus needs to “sell, sell, sell” to continue momentum, the group’s strategy and marketing chief Marwan Lahoud said on Wednesday.

Possible gaps in 2015 deliveries due to declining sales had cast doubt on parent Airbus Group’s target of reaching breakeven on the world’s largest passenger jet in that year.

Lahoud also told a news confernce Airbus was confident it could handle the transition to a new version of its A320 jet, the A320neo, at a new higher rate of 46 aircraft a month.

Airbus earlier announced plans to increase production of the narrowbody A320 family to 46 a month from 42 in the second quarter of 2016.

The move had been increasingly flagged by Airbus but several analysts had expected the planemaker to wait until after the A320neo transition before ramping up production.