By Tim Hepher

PARIS (Reuters – Recent orders won by Airbus have strengthened Airbus’ case for increasing production of its A320 family narrowbody jets to 65 per month. This is in line with a goal set by the European planemaker.

Christian Scherer (Chief Commercial Officer) was asked whether Qantas deals and Air France–KLM were helping Airbus achieve its ambitions of continuing with higher increases.

Scherer stated that what we see in formal decision making is something that could be expected for many months.

He stated, “It now public strengthens what kind of knew all the time,” but did not wish to sound overconfident.

Airbus insists for many months on the fact that post-pandemic demand will be high for industry’s most popular narrowbody models. This is why they have been pushing for an increase in production to levels well beyond pre-crisis.

Airbus A320 family output was at an all-time high of 60 per month in 2019, before it dropped to 40 per month after the airline crisis.

Airbus is now planning to double its output from 65 to 65 per week and said that 75-percent rates are possible.

Engine manufacturers and other suppliers expressed concerns that the demand snapback would not be sustained or cause jet owners to retire too soon, which would negatively impact their profits on older jets.

Other sources claim that supply chains are still too tight to allow for an increase in rates.

However, the latest Airbus orders generated a significant breakthrough for U.S. engine maker Pratt & Whitney at Qantas.

“It would seem that Pratt & Whitney’s recent success indicates they are in agreement with the Airbus view of the market,” Scherer said.

In just a few days, he praised the sale of two new A350 freighters by Singapore Airlines (OTC) and Air France KLM.

Airbus was forced to delay the launch of the Jet mid-year and then wait several months until it won the first order from the Dubai Airshow.

The tentative deals this week for an aggregate total of 11 freighters come from the network’s first major carriers.

Scherer explained that they believed the product was good and were shocked by the reaction of the market to the product.

Boeing (NYSE 🙂 Co expects to respond with a freighter variant of its future 777X, in order to keep its lead on the air cargo market. Qatar Airways holds a large order.