Farnborough review: Back to form

By Max Kingsley-Jones at Farnborough

Airbus regains confidence as new A350 is well received

Farnborough week was a bit of a slow burner for Airbus. But after a self-conscious start the company received a major shot in the arm when blue-chip customer Singapore Airlines (SIA) declared that it planned to order the new A350 Xtra Wide Body (XWB) as well as giving the embattled A380 a vote of confidence.

The European manufacturer arrived at the show in a slightly humble, apologetic mood with newly appointed chief executive Christian Streiff making his public debut and promising that he would launch an effort to put things right once he had completed his "100 days" of evaluation.

But as the press conference progressed, the airframer was already beginning to flex its muscles as it unveiled its revamped A350 XWB, designed for a double-barrelled assault on Boeing's 787 and 777 families. With Airbus's plans for a significantly more competitive new twinjet now finalised, chief salesman John Leahy is like a football manager who has signed the world's top striker and is eager for the next A350/787 match to kick off to allow him to start regaining lost ground.

The only fly in the ointment is the hold-up in a formal relaunch of the A350, which has resulted from the unscheduled replacement of Airbus's chief executive last month - Streiff understandably wants time to evaluate the new design before seeking shareholder authorisation for XWB to go ahead. Although assent is almost certainly a formality, it is almost as if there is no end to the holding pattern the A350 has been in recently.

At the start of the week, Airbus's normal air show routine of significant order announcements was less in evidence - not surprisingly given the A350 has been in a state of flux in recent months, while the A380 is in the "cooling off" period that most types go through between launch and service entry when sales tend to slump as potential customers wait to see how the aircraft performs.

Sales announcements

But as the week went on there were more signs of the old Airbus and by day four (Thursday) the company was ahead of Boeing in show sale announcements - albeit not by the comfortable margin we have come to expect at such gatherings.

Then, in a somewhat surprise development, on day five - Farnborough's last trade day - the XWB received a ringing endorsement from SIA, which announced plans to sign a $4.3 billion order for 20 of the new twinjets, plus 20 options.

It was not the decision by SIA to commit to the new A350 that was a surprise, but its timing - coming as it did at the end of the show when all but the die-hard business people had long gone and the last of the show dailies had been printed. The last-minute announcement can be explained by the fact that the negotiations went down to the wire, with industry sources confirming the deal was not certain to be completed in time for the show.

SIA's decision to split its mid-size order between Airbus and Boeing was predictable as it was clear in May, when the airline chose to order 20 787s, that the size of the order had left the door wide open for Toulouse to slip through - once it had got its act together on the A350. As we reported at the time of the 787 order, Airbus and SIA remained in discussions about the A350 despite the decision to go with Boeing.

"It is heartening that Airbus has listened to customer needs and has come up with a totally new design for the A350," says SIA.

And to cap it all, amid talk of A380 order cancellations in some quarters, SIA has given the embattled ultra-large-aircraft programme a huge vote of confidence by adding to its commitments, placing orders and options for another 15 aircraft. "Airbus has demonstrated to SIA's satisfaction that the design of the A380 is sound," says the airline.

So Airbus ended up having announced $21.5 billion of orders and commitments during Farnborough and, spurred on by SIA's approval for its XWB and A380, its "return to flight" effort has taken some great strides forward. As the staff in Airbus's French headquarters head off for their traditional August break, they will probably feel relieved that the light they can see at the end of the tunnel indicates progress rather than another express train heading in their direction. ■

Source: Flight International