HONG KONG (Reuters) - European planemaker Airbus (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said 2 to 3 small Chinese start-up airlines could be forced to delay delivery of aircraft in 2009-2010 as they struggle in the wake of the global financial crisis.
But Airbus - which competes with Boeing (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to sell planes to China Southern Air (1055.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (ZNH.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (600029.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Air China (0753.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (601111.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and China Eastern (0670.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (600115.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (CEA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), and smaller players such as Sichuan Airlines - said it already hit its 2008 China firm order target, now at 140.
Still, the global aviation industry is in the middle of a severe downturn partly from the bleak global economic outlook.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported a sharp drop in global passenger traffic growth for September of 2.9 percent, the first decline since the SARS epidemic in 2003.
"It's more the start-ups that are obviously going to be most affected by the reduction in the amount of available financing, so we will encourage them to defer," Laurence Barron, President of Airbus China, told Reuters during the China Summit.
"We're talking about a very small number of airlines, 2 or 3 maybe," Barron added, declining to name the companies.
Earlier on Thursday, the planemaker's sales chief John Leahy told reporters the firm sees substantially lower orders next year as the crisis crimps passenger traffic and earnings for airlines across the world.
But Leahy added the slowdown would not have a dramatic impact on the company because it currently has its highest-ever backlog of 3,705 aircraft.
On Tuesday, Airbus said it had won an order from the Bank of China's (3988.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (601988.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) aviation leasing arm in Singapore for 20 of its A3-family aircraft.
The orders were largely those taken over from an existing order for Airbus aircraft placed by Skybus Airlines Inc, a low-cost U.S. carrier that shut its operations in April.
A few analysts said the move reflected bleak prospects in the Asian aviation sector as the economic crisis deepens.
CHINA COMPETITION?
Earlier this week during an air show in Zhuhai, China, the country's main planemaker sealed an agreement worth up to $750 million to sell five jets, with an option for 20 more, to General Electric's (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) aircraft leasing arm, in its first major overseas deal for the homegrown plane.
The government-backed Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) signed an official agreement with GE Commercial Aviation Services on the Chinese-designed ARJ21 civilian jets.
With an aim eventually to compete with industry giants Boeing and Airbus in the global market, COMAC already has more than 100 orders for the ARJ21 jet, unveiled last December and due for commercial deliveries from the third quarter of 2009. Continued...
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