11/19/2013

The pending A320 production increase (announcement)...

John Leahy just today stated (not for the first time) that Airbus thinks about an increase in A320 production. I think an increase is out of question. The flydubai order for up to 100 B737MAX-8 could be the last trigger.
flydubai reportedly leaned pro Airbus for some time. But after Boeing decided to bring B737 production up to 47 in 2017 they were able to offer MAX slots in the second half of 2017. And these 60 extra slots per year could now trigger more sale campaign wins for Boeing and the B737MAX versus the A320neo. So Airbus has to react quickly and try to find delivery slots especially in 2017 and 2018.
On the other hand Boeing's increase raises the question how many more B737NG slots have to be filled until mid 2017, as one should guess that there is not a step change once the B737MAX starts delivery and the increase to 47 per month should create some more delivery slots in 2016 and 2017 for the B737NG, which is already short of orders in my calculation.