Airbus targets 700 commercial airplane orders this year: sources

Airbus has told aircraft industry experts that it expects to win 700 orders this year, industry sources said.

Airbus executives mentioned the target at a meeting of aircraft value appraisers in Toulouse last week, they said.

A spokesman for the European planemaker declined to comment.

In its latest official guidance, parent Airbus Group AIR.PA says it expected orders to exceed deliveries of more than 650 aircraft in 2016.

Airbus sold a gross total of 32 aircraft and delivered 125 in the first quarter, down 74 percent and 7 percent respectively from the same period last year. After adjusting for cancellations, it posted 10 net orders in the quarter, its slowest start to the year since 2011.