By Tim Hepher TOULOUSE France (Reuters) - Airbus sees a "distinct possibility" of adding at least one new customer for its A380 superjumbo jet before the end of the year, the European planemaker's sales chief John Leahy told Reuters on Thursday. Currently, Airbus has a total of 318 orders from 19 customers for the world's largest passenger jet, which is designed to carry 525 passengers. "That is a distinct possibility," Leahy said, when asked about industry speculation of a deal to add at least one new name to the order book for the slow selling plane. He was speaking after Airbus on Wednesday revised down its demand forecast for the industry's largest category of aircraft, which includes the A380 and the Boeing 747-8, while revising up its overall 20-year jet demand forecast. 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 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 unnamed buyers, 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. Airbus Chief Executive Fabrice Bregier said on Thursday he was convinced that "smart marketing" would boost sales. The A380 sells for $414 million at list prices but airlines typically get large discounts for new plane orders. Because of its size, some airline executives view the A380 as risky in a fragile economy, but Bregier said it was profitable to fly. Both Airbus executives were speaking on the sidelines of the first flight of a smaller aircraft, the A320neo Speculation surfaced at an industry conference this week that Turkish Airlines could lease some A380s, either from another airline or lessor Amedeo or both. That would not immediately benefit Airbus directly but would be welcomed by the planemaker as a visible marketing boost. Turkish Airlines has ties through a codeshare agreement with Malaysia Airlines, an A380 operator that is looking for urgent solutions to bring in cash and restructure its operations following two aviation disasters. Asked at an air show in Istanbul on Thursday about the prospect of leasing some A380s, Turkish Airlines Chief Executive Temel Kotil said, "There is nothing new to communicate on that." Airbus is heavily dependent on three Gulf carriers that make up half of the A380s on order, dominated by a total of 140 planes ordered by Dubai carrier Emirates. It says it would buy even more if Airbus agreed to upgrade its engines to save fuel. "This is not on the agenda right now. It is not a priority," Bregier told reporters, adding his goal was to sell the current model which was making a "ton of money" for key operators. "We need to find a way to convince other airlines and we are confident we can do that. It is true that in a few years we have to ask ourselves what is next and how we continue to incrementally innovate the A380," Bregier added. Most industry watchers say Airbus will most likely bow to the demands by its top customer Emirates but that it faces a dilemma over timing. Delaying too long could inhibit a recovery of sales of its flagship product and moving too early could limit the amount of new technology available and strain engineering resources. Abu Dhabi's state-owned Etihad Airways meanwhile showed off its first A380 and unveiled its new branding as it seeks to up the battle in the luxury stakes and continue its rapid growth. Speaking in Hamburg on Thursday, Chief Executive James Hogan said it was too soon to say whether Etihad would increase its order for 10 superjumbos. Qatar Airways took delivery of its first of 10 A380s last week and hinted it could buy more later this year. (Additional reporting by Evrim Ergin, Victoria Bryan; Editing by James Regan and Diane Craft)