Bloomberg — Air France-KLM Group is considering deferring one or two of the Airbus SAS A380 superjumbo jets it has on order as a recession weakens demand for air travel, said Pierre Vellay, the airline’s director of fleet development.

“It’s a very serious crisis,” Vellay told reporters today in Everett, Washington, where he was picking up Boeing Co.’s first 777 freighter model.

Air France-KLM, Europe’s biggest airline, is also deferring two of the five 777 freighters it has on order. The Paris-based company pushed back deliveries of two it had planned to get this year until sometime between 2010 and 2012, “according to the speed of the recovery” of the industry, Vellay said in an interview.

Airbus and Boeing, the world’s largest planemakers, have said deferrals and order cancellations are increasing as financing tightens and as the recession has prompted a global slump in air travel and cargo shipments. Industrywide air freight traffic fell 23 percent from a year earlier in December in what the International Air Transport Association called an “unprecedented and shocking” decline.

“Some customers are reassessing their immediate requirements,” Aldo Basile, Boeing’s sales chief for Europe, said in an interview. Air France-KLM said earlier this week it’s postponing deliveries of six planes by two to three years, including an unspecified number of 777 cargo and passenger models and an unspecified model of Airbus aircraft.

Airbus Deferrals
Vellay said today Air France is only considering deferring the A380 among the Airbus planes it has on order and will make a final decision once it gets the new delivery schedule from Airbus for the 12 superjumbos it has agreed to buy. The Toulouse, France-based planemaker said last month it may deliver just 18 A380s this year, down from the earlier goal of 21, though Air France said it still hopes to get its first jet by year-end.

Air France has about 40 jets on order from both planemakers and doesn’t plan to outright cancel any, because it needs to renew its fleet, Vellay said. The 777 freighter, which Air France helped develop, will make the carrier more competitive once cargo traffic picks up, he said.

“It’s important to operate a more efficient tool, especially right after a crisis, because it’s the best way to recover,” Vellay said. “This will be a very sexy product for the investors, not just the operators.”

777 Orders
Boeing has orders for 73 of the model, which boasts cost savings of 40 percent compared to the similar-sized 747-200, said Thomas Crabtree, who does cargo marketing and revenue analysis for Boeing. The company expects to sell 1,100 of the new 777 and 747-8 cargo versions through 2027, he said.

“It’s a very dire time” for the air-cargo industry, which could hurt the 777 freighter’s short-term success, Crabtree said in an interview. “But these are long-lived assets.”

Air France had expected to get the first 777 freighter off Boeing’s assembly line last quarter. The new plane’s entry into service was delayed because of a two-month strike by machinists that shuttered Boeing factories through Nov. 2.

source: By Susanna Ray (www.bloomberg.com)