Louis Gallois, the chief executive of Airbus, signalled the return of the European aircraft manufacturer to the forefront of the industry yesterday with a commitment to spend €11 billion (£7.4 billion) developing a new aircraft.

After Monday’s $45 billion order deluge and a further $7 billion in new sales yesterday, Mr Gallois told the Paris Air Show: “I can tell you with full confidence that Airbus is back.”

Airbus has endured a torrid year, losing €572 million, reversing a profit of €2.3 billion the year before, and its flagship A380 superjumbo project has been delayed by two years. The company is also shedding 10,000 of its 55,000 jobs.

Airbus, which employs 11,000 people in the UK, is hoping to use the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget to regain confidence. Orders have been held back until this week to generate maximum publicity, but Airbus’s commitment to the new mid-sized A350 is the most significant demonstration of its determination to keep pressure on Boeing.

Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner has secured $90 billion in orders and is the fastest-selling aircraft in history. The American company announced a further 63 787 sales, worth $8.8 billion, yesterday.

Airbus has been concentrating on its A380, a double-decker that seats more than 550, and is missing out on sales that are going to the mid-sized 787. It confirmed yesterday that it would spend €11 billion developing the relaunched A350 and would seek loans from the British, French, German and Spanish governments to help to launch the aircraft.

Yesterday it committed itself to a timetable of production for the A350XWB (extra wide body), with first deliveries in early 2013.

Airbus announced more orders yesterday from Air Asia for 15 A330s, with another ten on the way. Intrepid Aviation, of the United States, bought 20 A330 cargo carriers.

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