After one of the most troubling periods in the airframer's almost 40-year history, Paris provided Airbus the perfect platform to prove to the world that it is back in business. And prove it it did with a record 425 firm orders and more than 300 further commitments. There was more than a hint of the old Airbus swagger familiar from the Nöel Forgeard era when senior executives such as Louis Gallois and John Leahy - who have spent the past 18 months wrestling with Toulouse's inner demons as Boeing's 787 Dreamliner orderbook soared ahead - took to the stage to gleefully declare yet another customer win.
Most industry-watchers (even its rivals at Boeing) were expecting an Airbus orders bonanza. Following the grim coverage of the A380 crisis, the A350 about-face, the shock therapy of Christian Streiff and the Power8 cost-cutting plan, you got the feeling that things had to take a turn for the better. After all, Airbus's current product range is impressive and its sales team are trying to shift metal like their lives depended on it.
Le Bourget is also home turf. With the A380 gracing the air display almost as impressively silent as a Zeppelin airship, and domestic politicians and press willing their support, this was the occasion for Airbus to draw a line under its recent troubles amid a welter of orders and positive programme announcements. Especially given that Boeing - like a petulant child that knows it has lost the game - was as usual refusing to take part in the pretence of "concluding" already-agreed airline deals in a flurry of photo opportunities and press announcements.
So how good a week was it for Airbus? Order-wise it could scarcely have been better. Shake-out many of the run-of-the-mill narrowbody sales and there were some genuine coups. Boeing operator Hong Kong Airlines stunned many by opting for 51 A320 family and A330 aircraft, while US Airways' 92-strong order for A320s, A330s and A350s was bigger than most expected. There was also speculation that Russian carrier Aeroflot was going to transfer its loyalties to the Dreamliner. Instead it confirmed its commitment for 22 A350s.
Qatar Airways' firming of its requirement for 80 A350s was the biggest vote of confidence yet for the new widebody, while the A380 orderbook, worryingly stagnant for some time, was boosted by orders for eight superjumbos from Emirates and three from Qatar. The only dampener for the ultra-large airliner is that Airbus has not for some time secured a new A380 customer, and is still waiting for its first stateside order. With the window of Paris out of the way, it may have to wait a lot longer.
There are bigger worries on the production side. Airbus has a tricky relationship with the fast-expanding and extremely demanding Gulf airlines that are arguably its most valuable customers. Their tussles with Toulouse are often played out in the full glare of the media. Qatar Airways may have firmed up its commitment for A350s, but the airline's dissatisfaction with the firmness of the widebody's specification - revealed exclusively by Flight International this week - is not exactly a ringing endorsement of the programme.
At the same time, a second engine for the A350 beyond the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB - critical if the airliner is to be competitive against the 787 in the long run - looks as distant a prospect as ever. Airbus may be trying to seem unfazed, hinting that the Boeing 737 has sold in its thousands with just one engine supplier. However, on widebodies, carriers have historically demanded a choice. Look at the last Airbus widebody that came with just one engine: orders for the A340-500/600 are at a virtual standstill.
Finally, the worst may be to come on Power8. Slimming down Airbus's cumbersome vertically integrated and horizontally overlapping production organisation is the right thing to do. It will create a leaner, fitter Airbus, free from the straitjacket of politically driven workshare. But the unions are itching for a fight and Airbus executives cannot count on their French and German masters to do anything but protect their own patches.
Meanwhile, it may have ignored the Paris spin machine, but Boeing is still quietly notching up orders for the 787 (leasing giant ILFC announced 50 during the show). Airbus will be secretly hoping that with the 787 entering its critical production phase, the spotlight will now fall on every glitch and gremlin in the Dreamliner's radical global supply chain, at the same time as it basks in the glow of its best sales week ever.
Source: Flight International
