Airbus lands £1bn superjumbo order

Airbus Industrie received an early boost to the year yesterday after Malaysia Airlines agreed to take six of its A380 superjumbo aircraft in a contract worth $1.5bn (£1bn).

The deal takes orders for the new 555-seater jet to more than 100 from 10 customers. The aircraft enters commercial service in 2006.

The Malaysian flag-carrier has signed a memorandum of understanding to lease the six aircraft and intends to start taking deliveries in 2007.

The order is good news for the UK, which makes wings for Airbus, and for BAE Systems, which has a 20 per cent stake in the company. There may be further good news in the shape of an engine order from Rolls-Royce to power the Malaysian A380s. Malaysia Airlines is already a customer of Rolls and powers its fleet of Boeing 777 jets with the British company's Trent engine.

Airbus is expected to announce next week that it secured more orders than Boeing in 2002 – the third time in four years that it has secured market leadership. Boeing was hit badly by cancellations last year in the wake of the 11 September attacks, selling only 251 aircraft.

The European plane maker is also expected to deliver more aircraft than Boeing this year for the first time in history. The US company expects to produce between 275 and 285 jets this year while Airbus plans to deliver about 300. Boeing delivered 381 aircraft last year compared with 303 deliveries by Airbus.

The A380 order from Malaysia means that Airbus has now sold the aircraft to three airlines in the Asia-Pacific region, which is regarded as the biggest potential market for the jet.

Qantas and Singapore Airlines are already A380 customers but the big prize in the region remains Japan Airlines, which has not yet decided whether to buy the super-jumbo. Other launch customers include Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, Lufthansa and Air France. The total order book now stands at 103, including the Malaysian deal.