GENEVA -- "Things are a little slow right now," Francois Chazelle, Airbus vice-president of executive and private aviation conceded this morning.Four-hundred and sixty one miles away, John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer was conceding a very similar point at Airbus Innovation Days briefing in Hamburg.
"If you had to bet [on 2009 orders], bet lower than 300," said Leahy.
Leahy who serves as Airbus chief salesman, says his order guidance originates from Tom Williams, the company's executive vice president, insisting that he would still be working toward the 300 order target, though more than a third of the way through 2009 the numbers tell of the difficult road ahead.
Airbus currently holds orders for 30 aircraft this year, with 19 cancellations, bringing the net order total for 2009 to 11 aircraft.
The stark drop in both private and commercial orders is indicative of the overall state of the marketplace.
The slow economy has sharply dropped demand for new purchases, both commercial and private, though airframers are working to offer upgrades for models already in service, appealing to customer hesitation about major new purchases.
Airbus today highlighted a growing trend that is being seen across the industry, touting the increased range and payload capabilities of the A320 family Airbus Corporate Jets, rather than making major announcements for all-new products.
Other manufacturers, like Boeing and Bombardier have also announced similar enhancements for their existing product lines.
Airbus did however reveal that two of the six A340 orders booked last year were -500 Prestige models.
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