Airbus still keeps a little secret on the price of its aircraft

by Tim Hepher

(Reuters) – It is one of the secrets of the least well-kept of the aviation industry, but Airbus (PA:AIR) has left it to hover even a little suspense Friday on discounts on the price of its planes.

The european group, which has amended its accounting standards to its results for the first quarter, had said in February that it would reveal the amount of its enormous backlog of orders. But its amount was not included in the figures released on Friday. .

“We will unveil the entire backlog amount to the later in our results for 2018”, said a spokesperson, adding that this reflected “the future minimum revenue”.

The approach aimed to shed light on the real prices has made the news in a sector where manufacturers have long insisted that the airlines keep secret the prices they were negotiating.

HALF OF THE CATALOGUE PRICE

Traders and analysts believe that a plane usually sells for no more than half the catalog price.

Boeing (NYSE:BA), the competitor of Airbus offers similar reductions, they say.

These practices may seem strange in an industry that has few suppliers, requests, excess and rights of entry high.

But they open the door to relationships profit that can last for decades.

It is difficult to break without the consent of the low price or without buy back the aircraft from a competitor.

“The mystery of the duopoly between Airbus and Boeing, it is that despite everything, there is a competition is incredible,” says a leader of the sector.

At the end of 2017, the aircraft waiting for Airbus production accounted for a total of 997 billion euros at list prices.

Sources close to the two groups indicate that the airlines include the price of their aircraft , and their market, there is no significant pressure on the prices of their main models.

Boeing does not intend to report the net prices with discount, but reduced the number of aircraft waiting to be delivered. The american group has also adopted the new accounting rules.

No company should lift the veil on its individual agreements, which means that artificially high prices are expected to continue to be advertised in the air show.

The list prices are not, however, without a goal.

They are used to calculate terms “increase”, thanks to which the planners recovering some of the reductions granted to compensate for inflation during the long production time.

(Catherine Mallebay-Vacqueur for the French service)