Paris - The boss of European aircraft manufacturer Airbus says he has not ruled out a cut in production if the economic crisis worsens, while promising to back clients facing difficulties financing the purchase of planes.
Answering a question on production cuts at a dinner given in Paris on Monday by the Association of Professional Aeronautics and Space Journalists, Thomas Enders replied: "We can't rule anything out at the moment."
On October 15 Airbus said it had given up its goal of increasing production of its medium-range A320 jets to 40 a month in 2010, maintaining its output at 36.
Airbus has logged 119 cancelled aircraft orders since the start of the year, including 71 in October alone, company figures showed earlier this month.
October saw the cancellation of an order for 65 Airbus A319 airliners by the low-cost US carrier Skybus, which closed down earlier this year, an Airbus spokeswoman said.
Airbus took new orders for 794 new aircraft this year, revised down to 675 after cancellations. But it also reported a backlog of outstanding orders for 3 705 aircraft.
Enders reaffirmed on Monday that output could rise in 2009 if the market, currently weakened by the slowdown in the economy, picked up.
Airbus currently faced two major problems linked to the credit crisis, he said: financing difficulties faced by its clients and by its suppliers.
Airbus chief operating officer John Leahy warned in Hong Kong earlier this month the firm was expecting a sharp reduction in the number of new orders in 2009 as the global economy slows.
But Leahy, who heads the company's sales side, said its record backlog would see it through the next few years.
Airlines across the world have reported disappointing passenger and cargo figures in the past few weeks, as the global slowdown begins to cut into business travel and exports.
Enders, a German who has been in charge of Airbus for 18 months, also said he thought it a "good idea" to transfer the headquarters of its parent company EADS to the southern French town of Toulouse, home of Airbus.
EADS, nominally a Dutch company set up in 1999, is currently based in Munich and Paris.
- AFP