Boeing also revealed order deferrals.

Boeing also revealed order deferrals. While Airbus announced 48 order cancellations in the first half of 2008, Boeing said postponements and cancellations accounted for 10 to 11% of its order book. Randy Tinseth, vice-president in charge of marketing at the Boeing Commercial Airplanes division, highlighted that these changes only involved US airlines, “which look to make significant capacity reductions”. Le Figaro Economie, The Guardian TTU deems that the A400M military transport aircraft will increase the strategic mobility of the French and European armed forces. Combined with the NH90 and the MRTT tanker, the A400M will be a pillar of the militaries’ aerial-mobility strategy. This is why this next generation of transport aircraft represents a top priority for France and its European partners. It is destined to replace the Hercules C-130 and Transall C-160, in service for about 30 and 40 years respectively. TTU goes back over the genesis of the A400M programme. Built by Airbus Military, it is meant to answer polyvalence needs expressed by seven countries: Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Luxembourg, the UK and Turkey. In 2005, South Africa and Malaysia joined the programme. The A400M has a strong heritage of the experience accumulated by Airbus with the ATR, C-212, CN-235 and C-295 programmes. Today, it is largely praised for its groundbreaking technology: a composite-made airframe and new-generation engines. TTU (09/07)