Airbus says tougher to meet jet delivery goal after snags

Airbus softened its key target for jet deliveries Wednesday and warned that reaching it would be a "greater stretch" after a sequence of industrial problems. The cautious tone on deliveries - which implied a 2% cut in the annual target by changing its parameters to include a recently acquired Canadian jet - came despite higher than expected Q3 core earnings and strong demand from airlines. The company has been struggling with fresh industrial problems as production of its fast-selling A321neo passenger jet hit a snag in Hamburg, Germany, even as bottlenecks eased at some engine makers. Airbus stuck to its headline target of around 800 commercial deliveries in 2018 but disclosed this now included 18 deliveries of the Bombardier CSeries jet, renamed A220. <br/>