Airbus priorities for 2015 suggest a period of consolidation, as the company limits this year’s new product offerings to the long-range variant of the A321neo launched on Tuesday. Other tasks include validating announced design plans, meeting delivery schedules, establishing new final-assembly lines (FALs), and adjusting production rates, Airbus executives explained during the company’s annual press conference in Toulouse.

The European manufacturer reported beating 2014 targets with 629 jetliner deliveries to 89 operators, including eight new customers. Totals included 490 A320 narrowbodies, 109 widebodies (108 A330s and one A350), and 30 A380 quadjets. It values its year-end 2014 backlog of 6,386 orders at almost $920 billion. Airbus logged net orders for 1,321 single-aisle machines and 135 twin-aisle jets from 67 customers, including 14 new ones.

For Airbus president and chief executive Fabrice Bregier, a top priority lies with delivering the first A330 certified to carry a 242-metric-ton maximum takeoff weight in May, while Airbus prepares A350-1000 final assembly lines in Hamburg; St. Nazaire, France; and Broughton, UK, ahead of assembly beginning in early 2016.

Airbus also must validate the re-engined A330neo design before moving into detailed development by year-end. Another critical target centers on smoothing entry into service for the A320neo; Airbus plans to deliver 15 in 2015 and to accelerate production to 10 per month next year.

Overall, Bregier hopes to deliver “around 650” aircraft as new A350s begin to roll out and Airbus adjusts production of established models; single-aisle manufacture remains “more or less” stable ahead of 2016 plans for 46 per month, but widebody production will decrease to “close to” 100 A330s and “close to” 30 A380s this year, he said.

Asked about the effect of falling crude-oil prices on aircraft demand, Bregier responded philosophically. “Nobody knows what the oil price will be in 2018, 2019, 2020,” he said. “Airlines buy aircraft for a minimum of twelve years. You can’t bet on the fact that the fuel [price] will remain low for the next ten [or] fifteen years…so [airlines] need to buy aircraft with the lowest fuel burn. We have [about] 6,400 aircraft in the backlog …so we could, in principle, sustain no orders for three, four years.”  Nevertheless, Airbus has increased catalogue prices by 3.27 percent, effective January 1.

Meanwhile, the manufacturer is moving ahead with development of its “New Beluga” very-large transport aircraft designed to ferry major Airbus sub-assemblies from local manufacturing sites to Toulouse and Hamburg. It plans to build five A330-based machines in a project costing almost €1 billion ($1.18 billion) to replace the current fleet of A300-derived capacity. It expects to place the first new aircraft into service in 2019.