The article below from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight ------------\ SIDEWAYS - WINNER! BEST PICTURE WINNER for BEST PICTURE at the IFP/GOTHAM AWARDS and one of the Top 10 BEST PICTURES of the Year from the National Board of Review, SIDEWAYS is the new comedy from Alexander Payne, director of ELECTION and ABOUT SCHMIDT and starring Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen. Watch the trailer at: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/sideways \----------------------------------------------------------/ Airbus Sees a Strong Market for Its Planes December 16, 2004 By DON PHILLIPS <alt-code idsrc="nyt-geo" value="London (Eng);Great Britain"/>LONDON, Dec. 15 - Airbus predicted Wednesday that an average of 830 new passenger aircraft would be built each year for the next two decades, and that its new A380 jumbo plane would be so successful that Boeing would be forced to develop a competitor. The annual Airbus 20-year Global Market Forecast was far more enthusiastic about the future of huge aircraft - planes with 450 or more seats - than Boeing's forecasts. Boeing, in fact, has openly scoffed at Airbus's predictions of sales of more than 1,500 A380-size planes, a number Airbus raised this year to 1,650 planes, including 400 freighters. Although the number of A380's is relatively small compared with the total 20-year forecast of aircraft with more than 100 seats - 17,328 new passenger and freight aircraft - the huge A380 would account for 22 percent of all new aircraft orders industrywide, or $416 billion. They issued their forecast in dollars. John Leahy, Airbus's chief commercial officer, predicted that Boeing would be forced to build a competitor in the 450-plus passenger range, especially if its current largest, the 747-400, is phased out under pressure from the A380. The Airbus superjumbo jet will have its ceremonial introduction in Toulouse, France, on Jan. 18 and is expected to make its first flight this spring. "We believe they will have to do something," Mr. Leahy said of Boeing. He added that Boeing's management team would have to retire or be phased out before the company could admit its mistake and start building a superjumbo. While calling Boeing's decision inevitable, he added: "I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong." Buttressing its contention that the A380 would sell well, the European manufacturer also predicted that the recent downturn in the average number of passenger seats in commercial aircraft would be reversed, and that the average aircraft size would grow by 20 percent over the next two decades, from 181 seats currently to 215 seats. Airbus said it had 139 firm orders and options for the A380 this year and that it expected airlines to place firm orders and take options on more than 150 by the middle of next year. The A380 project, however, is running 1.45 billion euros, or $1.9 billion, over budget because of work to improve the efficiency and weight of the aircraft, according to Rainer Hertrich, the co-president of Airbus's parent company, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, or EADS, Reuters reported. Total costs for the double-decker jet are now estimated at more than 12 billion euros, Mr. Hertrich said in Munich late Tuesday in comments embargoed until Wednesday. The extra costs cover the entire A380 development project, including a freight version by 2008, he added. Airbus said there was a huge increase in orders over all this year, but that growth in orders should settle down to about 6 percent a year for some time, starting next year. Over the next 20 years, Airbus predicted, there will be an average growth of 5.3 percent a year in passenger kilometers. About 9,200 of the aircraft now in service will be retired in favor of new, more fuel-efficient models, Airbus said. The nine trillion passenger kilometers a year expected by 2023 will mostly be generated in Europe, with 32 percent, followed by Asia-Pacific with 31 percent and North America with 26 percent, the Airbus forecast said. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/business/worldbusiness/16airbus.html?ex=1104207833&ei=1&en=ef79b8d7fc570171 --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here: http://homedelivery.nytimes.com/HDS/SubscriptionT1.do?mode=SubscriptionT1&ExternalMediaCode=W24AF HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@xxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company