Airbus to increase A320 production

An A320 with the new Sharklets

Airbus, Europe's leading aircraft manufacturer has announced that it is now increasing production of its most popular family of aircraft, the A320 family.

The increase will see production levels rise from 42 a month to 46 a month in a bid to clear a backlog of over 4,200 orders. The A320 family represents approximately 75% of Airbus's order book due to the short haul market being so large.

A significant amount of the orders for new aircraft are coming from the East and developing markets as wealth increases in these parts of the world. What we are seeing is the expansion of airlines such as Air Asia and Lion Air but also interestingly, American Airlines has broken with its tradition of an all American fleet by ordering new Airbus aircraft.

The announcement comes on the back of a recent rise in profits of 22%. This is however in contrast with main rival Boeing that could not assure investors that profits would rise by a similar amount. The A320's main competition in the market is the long in service Boeing 737 with both companies now attempting to develop more efficient versions of each. The A320neo (new engine option) has already received over 2500 orders with more to come no doubt. Boeing's competition to this is the 737 MAX family which is also more fuel efficient compared with older models.

The announcement will be welcome news across Europe as it will result in more jobs across Europe, potentially in the Bristol area, as Europe recovers from the Global Financial Crisis. Airbus is also aiming to deliver its first new wide bodied aircraft the A350-XWB to Qatar Airways which is Airbus's direct competitior to the Boeing 787 in terms of wide bodied fuel efficient aircraft.