Faury defends Airbus forecasting after A380 disappointment

Airbus CE Guillaume Faury has defended the airframer’s forecast methodology, in the aftermath of the decision to terminate production of the A380. The airframer had conservatively estimated 20-year demand for nearly 1,300 high-capacity passenger aircraft in 2007, the year the A380 entered service, and was still putting the outlook for 450-seat jets at nearly 1,200 a decade later, despite poor A380 sales. Airbus disclosed in February that it would end production of the type in 2021 after Emirates – on which A380 production heavily depended – opted to cut back its order backlog, in favour of twinjets. Faury said: “Forecasts are a difficult job, especially when it comes to the future.” He says the airframer adjusts its global forecasting methods each year, examining the past in order to “take into account what we learn”. <br/>