Airbus orders far behind Boeing this year

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus said on Wednesday that it had registered 384 plane orders in the eight months from January through August, leaving it well behind US rival Boeing. At the end of July, Boeing's order book was already stuffed with 700 orders. On Tuesday, Airbus, a division of European aerospace giant EADS, raised its long-term forecast for global aircraft production, citing strong demand for domestic passenger traffic in Asia, despite the unclear economic outlook. Airbus, predicted that about 28,200 passenger and cargo aircraft would be sold for a total of almost $4.0 trillion (3.2 trillion euros) between 2012 and 2031.