Airbus superjumbo faces headwinds

When Airbus on Thursday reports robust airplane sales and deliveries for last year, its biggest plane will make only a small appearance in the annual list of new orders, in a sign of continued headwinds facing the A380 superjumbo jetliner. The Airbus unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. landed orders for more than 800 new planes last year after cancellations, according to company data through November and subsequent announcements,reported the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. Although the A380 accounted for only nine of those sales, the tally tops Airbus forecasts earlier last year of about 650 net orders and would be one of the company’s best sales years ever. Company officials have also said they would deliver more than 580 planes, Airbus’s highest annual production ever, far surpassing the 534 planes delivered in 2011, the previous record. Airbus orders and deliveries are still likely to lag behind those of rival Boeing Co., which earlier this month said it booked 1,203 net orders last year and delivered 601 planes.It would be the first time in five years it outsold Airbus, and the first time in a decade that the Chicago giant delivered more planes than its European competitor.