Airbus expects to deliver close to 430 planes in 2006, it said, adding a more bullish tone to its forecast and pledging a new long-range model by summer to battle archrival Boeing Company.

Airbus chief executive Gustav Humbert said the plane maker, 80 per cent owned by Franco-German-Spanish firm EADS, would deliver “closer to 430” aircraft in 2006, for a growth rate of 13 per cent.
Airbus previously had said it expected deliveries to rise at least 10 per cent this year, implying deliveries of at least 416 following a record 378 in 2005, said a Reuters report.
Humbert is under pressure to spell out what Airbus will do to stem slow sales in long-range models, a niche where Boeing is performing well with its 777 and the new 787 due in 2008.
He said Airbus was studying a number of improvements to its proposed A350 model and reiterated that a decision would come in time for the Farnborough air show near London this July.
“The message to our competitor (Boeing) is clear: the game is not over yet, it will just start in the summer,” he said.