Airbus said 2008 orders for the A380 superjumbo jet may be one-third lower than previously forecast, as higher fuel costs and an economic slowdown moderate travel growth, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.

Airbus said it may receive about 20 orders in 2008 for the 525-seat A380 superjumbo, the world's largest commercial jetliner. Earlier, Airbus had projected up to 30 orders for the A380 in 2008.

Airbus' announcement did not negatively impact the stock, at least not at the outset. Shares of Airbus' parent EADS gained 28 cents to 14.95 euros in Wednesday afternoon trading on the Paris exchange.

Airbus has again delayed delivery of selected A380 superjumbo jets, saying the company's transition to automated production is behind schedule.

Airbus now expects to deliver 12 A380 planes in 2008, down from 13, and 21 planes in 2009, down from 25, the company announced Tuesday.

Promoted as the world's most economical, large aircraft, the A380 is about two years behind schedule. The A380 will seat 525 passengers in a normal configuration, at least 50-120 seats more than its chief competition, Boeing's (NYSE: BA) 747, the wide-body industry standard.

In Europe, shares of Airbus's parent EADS were virtually unchanged on the news, down just 2 euro cents to 12.72 euros in afternoon trading. Boeing's shares gained five cents to $84.87.

Readers of this space know that the investment bias is toward large-cap companies with demonstrated business models and who have a competitive advantage in established markets, preferably with a favorable global trend as a support. And with the above in mind, Boeing is worth an evaluation.

The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) is the world's largest aerospace company.

In general, analysts expect 3-5% revenue growth in FY 2008, and 7-10% in FY 2009 as Boeing's increased aircraft production to meet high order backlogs offsets production delays in the 787 Dreamliner.

Moreover, although not to give short-shrift to Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems division, now the world's second-largest military contractor, behind Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), the major driver of BA's future value-added will continue to be its commercial aviation operation, led by the next-generation 787 Dreamliner.

Airbus announced Wednesday that it beat rival Boeing in 2007 deliveries but trailed it in new orders.

Airbus said it delivered 453 planes to Boeing's 441 in 2007, according to a company statement. Meanwhile, Boeing (NYSE: BA) bested European-based Airbus in 2007 net new orders, 1,413-1,341. Airbus' 2007 delivery total was up 19 from 2006's 434. Airbus said it expects to deliver 470 planes in 2008.

"2007 was a challenging year but also successful year for Airbus," Airbus President and CEO Tom Enders said. "We were successful in the market and mastered the industrial challenges of the production ramp up, the timely delivery of the first A380, and the implementation of the Airbus Power 8 turn-around program. 2008 will be as challenging on all fronts. But I am sure that, with the dedication of our people and all involved, we shall master them. On the commercial side, I anticipate that our order intake will be above our deliveries."

Delay city

Airbus has been plagued by a series of production setbacks as it rolls-out two new commercial aircraft deemed critical to the aerospace giant's early 21st century aviation strategy: the 500-seat A380 superjumbo jet and the A350.

Regarding the Dubai Air Show, it looks like Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Airbus are eyeball-to-eyeball, and so far, neither has blinked.

This year's Dubai Air Show has ensured that 2007 will be a record year for commercial jetliner orders, Reuters reported, with the two aerospace giants signing more than $82 billion in orders at the show.

For 2007, Airbus' orders should surpass the 1,111 amassed in 2005, Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders said. Boeing, which had 956 orders through Oct. 6 and does not forecast orders, is within 66 planes of having its third straight record year, Bloomberg News reported.

At the ripe old age of 51 years (although they say I look 49 -- whoever "they" is!!) I clearly remember flying on a Boeing 747 in 1972. I was on a high school summer trip to Europe for six weeks with ten buddies and two poor teacher chaperons. Now, that is another story!!

I remember landing at New York's JFK airport from Ohio, and as we all approached the gate for our Pan-Am flight to London, I remember feeling chills as I looked at this "queen of the sky" -- the Boeing Co.'s (NYSE:BA) 747. It was a newer model from Boeing that hit the market in 1970. This massive jet with the bubble top was beautiful, yet appeared clumsy. The four powerful engines looked small in relation to the size of the overall plane.

I can even recall one of our chaperons, before we bought him a bottle of wine, remarking out loud: "How is this baby gonna get off the ground? There's no way." Boarding this beast was a wonder unto itself. The first thing we saw was the spiral staircase leading to the upper deck. Upper deck! Planes aren't suppose to have an upper deck.

The Germans are not even buying from themselves. At least not airplanes. Airbus, a subsidiary of Franco-German EADS, has been flogging its 380 super-jumbo as the next big thing. But, Lufthansa is having none of it. The airline has ordered 20 of the new stretch 747s, worth $5 billion, and took options on another twenty.

The Airbus 380 has been plagued by technical issues and missed deadlines, and EADS is struggling to get financing and may have to go to its government shareholders for cash. The big Lufthansa order is not the kind of news that the company needed.

Boeing, on the other hand, must be doing a victory dance in the end zone. It stock is up over $1 to almost $91. And, as Airbus gets thumped, that could continue.

The last time anyone looked, Airbus and its parent EADS were about to go down in flames. FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX) has canceled a major order for the Airbus 380 super jumbo jet and other customers were threatening the same. The great scales of commerce were shifting in the direction of Airbus rival Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA).

But, Airbus has finally gotten its A380 off the ground. It appears that the plan can even fly further than Howard Hughes legendary Spruce Goose, at one time the largest plane in the world.

The Airbus 380 has flown from France to Korea without incident. Not even air sickness. Government agencies like the FAA can now certify the jet. This gets Airbus back on the road to getting the plane to customers like Singapore Airlines.

Boeing is hoping that Airbus customers who are sick of the delay will look at the newest version of the 747. Maybe the U.S. airframe giant may pick up a few dissatisfied customers.

Boeing is trading like a company about to get some big orders. Its stock is just shy of $86, very near a 52-week high. The stock is up from $50 less than two years ago.

Boeing has had Airbus on the mat recently. But, at least the European aircraft firm is not grounded.

Douglas McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Earlier this morning I posted about the GE jet engine which exploded due to fatigue. It quickly became one of our most visited stories today.

Craig, a pilot, commented on his impressions of the GE CF-6 in the comments area and said that he only knew of one in-air incident with the engine, which caused an unscheduled landing of the plane. He guessed that because the media was nearby and able to access the scene of the explosion, that caused coverage of the incident out of proportion to its significance.

GE's web page for the engine in question shows that it has a long and  industrious  history for GE as a workhorse engine. The CF-6 has been in production for more than 30 years, since 1971, and it is the most common high bypass turbofan around. It's very common in widebody aircraft like the Airbus, the A300 series, the Boeing 767 and 747, and the DC-10.

The engine does have some history of 'uncontained failures.' This site points out pictures of the recent failure and notes that in January of this year the NTSB put out a notice about the particular engine in question due to an incident in December of 2002 from an 'uncontained failure' as well as an earlier report in September of 2000.