Airbus lifts production to meet record order book

Airbus lifts production to meet record order book

Airbus, the European plane-maker, is to raise production levels by 30 per cent this year after receiving a record 460 firm orders in 1997 valued at $29.6bn (pounds 18.2m). The increase in sales enabled the four-nation consortium, in which British Aerospace has a 20 per cent stake, to close the gap on its US rival Boeing. Provisional figures suggest that Airbus captured about 44 per cent of the world market in 1996 against 56 per cent for Boeing, which now also owns McDonnell Douglas.