Airbus, the largest European aircraft company, has announced that it will be stepping up its monthly A320 aircraft production by 2 aircraft, to 36, in order to prepare for the economic market’s recovery, as financial experts predict the end of the world recession.This increase will be implemented at the end of this year, in December, making it possible for more orders to completed sooner for various airlines across the world.
Airbus executive vice-president, Tom Williams, said, “Thanks to our pro-active order book management we have been able to keep production stable during the year of the downturn, but now it is definitely time to think ahead”.
This will be the only increase in production for Airbus; production of its long-haul A330/340 family will be kept at eight airframes per month to suit demand.
The move comes as Airbus is aiming to keep its deliveries for 2010 around the same level as last year, when it delivered 498 aircraft including 402 A320-family jets.
Airbus' production rate on the A320 stood at 36 aircraft a year ago, when it stated that it would reduce the rate to 34 from October 2009.
Airbus’ parent company EADS expects gross orders for the aircrafts to reach 250-300 aircraft this year and so this means that this increase will definitely prove beneficial for the company, especially considering the downfall of the aircraft industry.
This article was written by resident aviation news editor Osama Hamid
