Airbus tops Boeing in jet orders, but both face China risk

Airbus SA CEO Fabrice Bregier shares a laugh with photographers at the end of the annual press conference in Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. Airbus won hundreds more plane orders last year than rival Boeing, but the American planemaker handed over more aircraft to customers. Airbus SA said Tuesday that it exceeded its targets in 2015, taking in 1,036 net orders and delivering 635 jets to airlines and other buyers. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Airbus SA CEO Fabrice Bregier shares a laugh with photographers at the end of the annual press conference in Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. Airbus won hundreds more plane orders last year than rival Boeing, but the American planemaker handed over more aircraft to customers. Airbus SA said Tuesday that it exceeded its targets in 2015, taking in 1,036 net orders and delivering 635 jets to airlines and other buyers. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

By Associated Press January 12, 2016 3 min read

PARIS (AP) – Airbus overcame technical toilet troubles and engine delays to win hundreds more plane orders in 2015 than rival Boeing, but a bigger problem may cloud this year for both companies: China’s economic slowdown.

Airbus SA and Boeing Co. are battling to win market share in China, forecast to become the world’s biggest air travel market in a little more than a decade. But concerns about China’s plunging financial markets and slowing growth are rippling throughout Asia, where a growing middle class has driven demand for new airplanes in recent years.

Airbus CEO Fabrice Bregier largely shrugged off the recent market turmoil on Tuesday, insisting that his Toulouse, France-based company is sticking to plans for a new facility in Tianjin next month and to its overall strategy in China.

“We should not mix up problems we can see on the financial markets and the real economy,” he told reporters in Paris, in presenting Airbus’ annual orders and forecast for the year.

Bregier predicted that new U.S. visa policies would boost Chinese air travel, and that Asian middle class demand would continue to grow.