Bregier said slightly fewer than 600 aircraft had been delivered by the end of November. "That will require a repeat of the effort made in December 2016, but we're prepared for that," he said.

"The technical problems on the new A320 engines are now solved. So we're hopeful production will ramp up as expected in 2018."

Asked about rumors of the departure of Airbus CEO Tom Enders, who has faced pressure over the conduct of an internal investigation into inaccuracies in filings with U.S. regulators over arms technology sales, Bregier said:

"Let's leave the board to take decisions."

(Reporting by Michel Rose; editing by Andrew Roche)