TOULOUSE France (Reuters) - Airbus (PA:AIR) sees a "distinct possibility" of adding at least one new customer for its A380 superjumbo before the end of the year, sales chief John Leahy told Reuters on Thursday.
Airbus has a total of 318 orders for the world's largest passenger jet.
"That is a distinct possibility," Leahy said, asked about industry speculation of a deal to add at least one new name to the list of 19 customers for the 525-seat passenger plane.
On Wednesday, the European planemaker revised down its forecast for the industry's largest category of aircraft, which includes the A380 and the Boeing (N:BA) 747-8.
Airbus lost one of its existing A380 customers in July when it revoked an order for six A380s from Japan's Skymark Airlines, which faced difficulties financing its purchase.
It formally booked a previously announced order for 20 aircraft in February from leasing company Amedeo, leaving a net tally of 14 orders so far this year.
An order for 10 A380s from Hong Kong Airlines also hangs in the balance as the airline prepares to cancel the order, which has been moved to a part of the Airbus order book reserved for buyers that prefer to remain anonymous, industry sources said in July.
However, Airbus is working on adding up to two new buyers for the double-decker jet in coming months, financial industry delegates said at the Istat Europe conference earlier this week.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by James Regan)