by Tim Hepher
DOHA (Reuters) – Demand for medium-range aircraft is picking up on the back of a post-pandemic rebound in air traffic and the airline industry is even seeing first signs of a pick-up in demand for larger, wide-body aircraft, the airline said. commercial director of Airbus Christian Scherer.
“The (narrow-body) market has really picked up,” he told Reuters, adding that the European aircraft manufacturer was in talks with several airlines about future orders.
On the industrial side, Airbus still faces uncertainties in its supply chain, but it is confident that it can increase its production of narrow-body aircraft by 50% over the next three years.
Christian Scherer also reported an embryonic recovery in demand for longer-range, wider-bodied aircraft.
It played down reports of a possible delay of three months, or even up to a year, for its new A321XLR due to regulatory milestones. “It would be extremely speculative to throw numbers on months of timeframes,” he said.
Competitor Boeing has described the large single-aisle market as a niche market. “I like this niche. Airbus has sold more than 500 of these planes,” replied Christian Scherer, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Iata international air transport association in Doha.
On the dispute with Qatar Airways over the protection of the A350 against lightning, he added that Airbus still intended to reach an amicable agreement and that the safety of the aircraft “was not in question”.
(Gilles Guillaume for the French version)
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