Airbus looks for China lift
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A Guardian report quoted John Leahy, a Chief Operating Officer at Airbus, as saying that Chinese airlines would need 113 A380s in the next two decades and up to 150 Airbus jets of all kinds in the next five years alone.
He was speaking at the Asian aerospace expo which started in Hong Kong yesterday. The super jumbo has been delayed because of technical and production delays but the first commercial flight by Singapore Airlines, takes off next month between Singapore and Sydney.
Leahy said there would be “incremental” orders for the A380 from China over the next year on top of the five ordered by China Southern Air. The super jumbo has won 173 firm orders or commitments.
Leahy’s forecasts coincided with a report from Friends of the Earth demanding that the EU include aviation in its carbon-trading scheme, the newspaper said.
The A380 burns 17% less fuel per passenger-kilometre than any other plane in service, Airbus says, and emits 75g of CO2 per passenger-kilometre, half the European target for a car. The Friends of the Earth report, drawn up by Manchester University’s Tyndall centre for climate change research, said aviation should be included in European carbon trading by 2010 rather than the current 2011-12 timeframe, because it was the fastest-growing source of emissions. Aviation emissions have doubled since 1990.
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