news bulletin – answers

Airbus predicts earnings plummet

questions

1. What is Airbus doing? bracing itself (bracing – preparing for something bad)
2. What for? a bumpy economic ride
3. How much profit has Airbus posted for the first quarter of 2009? 232million euros
4. How does this compare with last year? it is down 70%
5. What 2 reasons do analysts give for this? the fact that the A400M military jet is 4 years overdue and that the civilian airline industry is in sharp decline
6. What level of orders did Airbus predict? up to 400 jets in 2009
7. Why has this been lowered? because airlines are cancelling orders
8. Which is Airbus’s best selling model? the A320
9. Who is their main rival? Boeing
10. What have cancellations done in this company this year? outstripped (exceeded) orders