Airbus will maintain a higher rate of production of its A380 super jumbo and aims to deliver 30 such planes this year even as it repairs cracks found on parts of the passenger jets' wings, according to Tom Enders, chief executive.

"Despite the issue right now with the cracks in the wing ribbed feet...We're maintaining our planned increase in production (of the A380)," Enders told reporters at the Singapore Airshow. "Meanwhile, our A380 network continues to grow."

Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co., or EADS (EADSY), will deliver the A380 to Malaysian Airline System Bhd. (3786.KU) and Thai Airways International PCL. (THAI.TH) this year. At present, 69 A380s are in service with seven carriers.

Airlines including Singapore Airlines Ltd. (C6L.SG) and Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN.AU) have had to repair cracks on some of its A380 wings. "We will ensure that our operators and customers are as little disturbed as possible," Enders said.

Enders said it will pick up the tab for the repairs but declined to give an estimate. He also didn't disclose any details of discussions with airline customers on compensation and insisted that the A380 is "absolutely safe" to fly.

Airbus will implement lessons learnt from the A380 program on its A350 planes, Enders said. The A350 program is running behind schedule but the company isn't in a hurry to rush production as it wants to avoid any possible problems with the jets after they enter service, he said.

Separately, Airbus said in a statement that airlines in the Asia-Pacific region will take deliveries of about 9,370 new aircraft valued at $1.3 trillion over the next 20 years.

"That's good news for Airbus and the region alike. Asia-Pacific is second to none when it comes to current and future business prospects and aviation growth will bring increased trade and significant wealth creation into the region," said John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer for customers.

Airbus said it expects passengers carried by airlines in the Asia-Pacific region to rise 5.9% per year, outstripping an estimated 4.8% annual growth globally. Similarly, in the freight business, Asia Pacific will lead the world with a 5.6% annual rise, compared with an expected 5.1% average increase globally, according to the statement.

The region will also lead global demand for wide-body aircraft due to concentration of growing populations around the main urban centers. The maker of the A330 and A340 wide-body planes expects airlines in the region to buy 3,650 such aircraft in the next 20 years.

Globally, Airbus expects demand for 27,800 new passenger and freight airplanes valued at US$3.5 trillion over the next 20 years.

Arch rival Boeing Co. (BA) Monday projected that for the 2011-2030 period, global airlines will require 33,500 new aircraft worth about US$4 trillion, with demand from the Asia-Pacific region likely at 11,450 new planes worth US$1.5 trillion during the same period.

Airbus said it isn't concerned about getting fewer orders in 2012 after receiving orders for a record 1,608 planes last year. Leahy said the company expects new orders to outpace production in 2012, without giving a specific forecast for expected orders this year.

Airbus has a backlog of 4,500 planes and its annual production is about 550 jets.

The company hasn't received any requests from its Indian customers to delay deliveries of planes, Leahy said in response to a question on whether the nation's carriers, which recently reported huge losses, have asked for changes to delivery plans.

In other announcements on Wednesday, Airbus said it has signed a deal with Indonesia to sell nine C295 military transport aircraft for US$325 million and it, along with another EADS unit and the aerospace arm of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd. will develop a program for converting A330 passenger jets into cargo freighters.

Conversion work will be done mainly in Dresden, Germany, and the first converted A330-300 cargo jet will enter service in 2016, the company said.

-By Gaurav Raghuvanshi and Chun Han Wong, Dow Jones Newswires; +65 64154 154; gaurav.raghuvanshi@dowjones.com