But the priority is not to take new orders

Arrived at the head of Airbus two years to continue the restructuring of the manufacturer in full crisis of confidence after the disaster of the A380, Thomas Enders has experienced only an embellished brief, early 2008, before plunge back into turmoil. Forced to simultaneously fly the persistent difficulties of the A380 and the A350 strategic launch, he also inherited the A400M, with the integration of MTA to Airbus. All on background of falling orders and decreases in the rates. All winds that do not appear to begin his optimism. Confident the outcome of the negotiations on the future of the A400M, Thomas Enders is convinced that maintain Airbus deliveries to a record level and excludes all new social plan. Find the full text of the interview on

At the last le Bourget aerospace show, in 2007, Airbus had won more than 400 orders. What do you expect from the 2009 Edition, to be held from 15 to 21 June

We did not expect major orders le Bourget this year. If we reach 300 orders for the year 2009, this will be an excellent result. But the priority is not to take new orders. It is rather to transform existing orders in deliveries. So far, we do we go in out not too badly. We recorded very few cancellations. In addition, our huge order book included a significant percentage of orders in excess to our capacity of production for 2009, which helped to cushion the impact of cancellations and postponements. So today ' today we are always in line with our objective of shipments for 2009. We will deliver as many devices as in 2008, which was a record year for Airbus, on condition of course that there are no new financial catastrophe.

This will therefore not so bad for Airbus, despite the difficulties of the airlines and the fall of the air traffic

Absolutely! We we wear well, despite the financial crisis, rumours of disasters and whatever still. And we still have a large volume of orders in excess on 2010 and 2011. This is in addition a very proactive approach to our clients. Because if a client wants to postpone its acquisition a month before delivery, it is a real problem. But if he does six to eight months earlier, we can again switch his command on another client.

Are deliveries expected by the end of the year now all funded

No, not yet. But the financial situation continued to deteriorate, thanks to the strong support of the governmental export credit agencies. This year, they should thus fund or more precisely to guarantee about 50 of the deliveries of aircraft against 20 in 2008. We have not spared efforts to help our customers to find financing.

Do you always expect from the Germany that it injects funds to support exports of Airbus, as did the France

We are very positive and we hope that other countries will take similar measures. This is the case in the United States where Ex - Im Bank is now allowed to finance directly, and not only to ensure aircraft exports.

Is there not a contradiction between the announced reduction in production and maintenance of the objectives of deliveries

We produce today 8.5 long haul and 36 single-aisle aircraft per month and we actually decided to reduce production rates to 34 A320 per month from October. Compared to what we planned to do in 2010 (40 single-aisle aircraft and 11 long-haul per month), this represents a reduction of 15 to 20. But this is will that little effect on the number of aircraft produced this year, because we have reached the rate of 36 A320s by the end of last month and we still reached a record number of 483 aircraft delivery.

In 2010, we actually deliver a little less aircraft than in 2009. This will depend on various factors. We still lack visibility in 2010 and the airlines even more.

Are you considering to further reduce production, less than 34 A320 per month, as it has been mentioned internally

We obviously have contingency plans in case the situation is aggravating. We would be poor managers if this was not the case.

We meet regularly to examine the situation. The next meeting is planned soon. It is clear that we do not have "white tail", the aircraft that would remain us on the arms, Toulouse or Hamburg. But we must also think about how we could again increase rates. Because I am convinced that, once the crisis is past, companies that today are asking us to postpone their orders will be claim us more aircraft. Or it takes three to six months at least to adapt the rhythm of production on the rise as downward. Therefore, our ability to quickly reset the increase depends on the manner in which we now organize the decline in the rates. This issue is not only Airbus but the chain of subcontractors, with which we must remain coordinated.

From what level of production jobs would be threatened

There is no simple answer. The situations are highly variable from one site to another. But, today, there is no threat. Playing on different reserves of flexibility, which include the term or temporary jobs, or having recourse to savings time collective, or partial unemployment eventually accounts, we have total flexibility in the order of 20 to 25.

Don't forget we have already made great efforts with the Power 8 plan 10,000 deletions of posts provided from 2007 to 2010, including interim staff and subcontractors in situ, Editor's note. If we had not launched this plan two years ago, he had to do emergency. Today, the objective is to maintain the workforce as much as possible, because we need personal qualified to succeed our challenges.

The A380 is part of your priorities, with the transition to the phase of manufacturing industrial, so-called wave 2, originally scheduled for late 2008. Apparently, the program is still not managed to wave 2 Where is it

The passage to the wave 2 has proved more complex than what we had envisaged. Optimization of the production of series will deal with again in 2009 and 2010. But we have already made great progress. This added the consequences of the crisis and the requests of the customers to postpone certain deliveries. The rise pace of the A380 is slower than expected. This leaves more time, at the time, to further improve the production series. We will not relax our efforts on the A380, although we did to produce finally that 14 this year instead of 18.

Where is the investigation of suspicions of insider within EADS

I have been heard by the financial Brigade on this file and the investigation continues its course. I have been properly treated and I have tried to make my contribution. But it may take several years before that procedure coming to an end. This does not prevent me really sleep, because I am not worried about the outcome of the investigation.