Meggitt sees more civil aviation woes in 2010

PARIS (Reuters) - British aeroplane parts supplier Meggitt Plc (MGGT.L) is planning for a further downturn in the civil aviation market in 2010 but still expects to post flat overall revenue in the current year.

Chief Executive Terry Twigger told Reuters the consensus in the market was for large plane deliveries to be down again next year on top of the 2009 market slump, justifying the group's recent decision to cut jobs and costs.

Speaking at the Paris Air Show, he also reiterated an earlier forecast for flat overall sales in the current year as the civil market drags down the more robust military division.

"2009 is panning out more or less as we expected at the full-year results (in March)," he said in an interview.

Meggitt supplies a range of products including flight displays and wheels to the likes of Boeing (BA.N) and Airbus EADS.PA as well as military contractors.

The market downturn has forced it to cut around 750 jobs this year in an effort to save 50 million pounds ($82.2 million) a year by the end of 2010.

"We believe this was an appropriate response. The question is can Airbus and Boeing maintain their delivery schedules?" Twigger said.

He added that despite current order deferrals the two companies' order backlog was large enough to cope and it was possible some customers could bring forward orders to plug gaps.

Separately, Canada's Bombardier said on Tuesday it would use Meggitt's electronic brakes system in its CSeries planes. Twigger said the deal could be worth more than $1 billion over 30 to 40 years.

(Reporting by John Bowker; Editing by David Holmes)