The Chief of Airbus' UK division, on Friday said that the European commercial aircraft manufacturer is confident that orders will start to pick up once again from the second half of the upcoming year, after the downturn in the sector has managed to mar the orders for this year.

Tom Williams shared that the firm is still all prepared to help airlines fund aircraft purchases, and had kept aside a sum of 1 Billion Euros for the same. Although the company is a little reluctant to do so.

After recording several years of high orders, Airbus and its American rival Boeing Co. have now seem a sudden slump, mainly on the back of airlines contracting during the industrial downturn that came after the financial meltdown.

The makers of airplanes then had to take the step of helping operators fund the purchases in order to attract more buyers.

Airbus is an off-shoot of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co.