Airbus says orders to slow but deliveries maintain rise

Airbus expects the jetliner industry to book almost 30 percent fewer net orders in 2017, but to maintain a slow increase in deliveries, its sales chief said.

John Leahy, the chief operating officer for customers at the world’s second-largest jet producer behind Boeing, said he expected the industry would book more than 1,000 net orders in 2017 compared with about 1,400 in 2016.

He did not say how this would translate into orders for Airbus, which has not issued a forecast for new commercial business this year.

Mr Leahy also said that Airbus would not embark on significant new aircraft developments in coming years.

"We are not planning any great new developments in the next few years … We will be doing incremental improvements," Mr Leahy told the Istat Americas air finance conference.