The timing couldn't be much worse: Airbus is getting ready to birth a new generation of freighter aircraft just as the industry is seeing near-unprecedented declines in demand.
But the European aircraft maker is looking beyond the near- and potentially mid-term crisis, and is making a long-term bet on creating a stable of freighter offerings. In the process, it is also trying to once more wrestle market share away from its main rival, Boeing, which has long dominated the freighter market.
But the global economic realities are staring Airbus in the face. "Cargo is soft," concedes John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer for customers, adding that the amount of tonnage moved by air is falling even more rapidly than passenger numbers.
Source: Aviation Week