Airbus has got out to a good start in 2008, pulling ahead of Boeing in both orders and deliveries through the end of March. The European company also says it broke its own monthly delivery record in March with 48 aircraft delivered.
Reports also surfaced this morning that Airbus intends to fly its first A320 freighter by 2011. The company will build a cargo version of the single-aisle jet as part of a joint venture with two Russian firms and will determine financing on the effort later this year.
Airbus hasn’t posed much of a challenge to Boeing in the cargo market. It stopped delivering its A300 freighter and halted work on its A380 cargo jet. The company did kickstart a new cargo program with its A330 Freighter, which will go through final assembly in Mobile, Ala., if Airbus’s parent company EADS, and partner Northrop Grumman, keep their tanker contract with the U.S. Air Force. The A330 Freighter has won 77 orders over the last year.
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