While the industry is still reeling from the half year 2019 results posted by the world’s two largest plane makers, Airbus continues to showcase a steady rise in its commercial aircraft deliveries. As has been the pattern, however, the airframer’s order tally also remains marred by cancellations. Republic Airways has recently walked back on its long-standing order for 40 A220 jetliners.
Airbus latest orders and deliveries book (ending July 31, 2019) shows the company logged 33 new orders for its commercial jetliners in July, pushed largely by wide-body bookings with less fruitful single-aisle gains.
Orders in the wide-body segment were topped by Air China’s acquisition of 20 A350 XWB airliners – all of the A350-900 variant; another two A350-900s were acquired by lessor Dubai Aerospace Enterprise. DAE’s deal offsets a cancellation of two A350-900s originally destined to Hong Kong Airlines, which has now cut its order to 13 of these jetliners.
An order for eight A330s – in the A330-900 version – originated from agreement with Virgin Atlantic announced at the 2019 Paris Air Show. As for single-aisle aircraft, an order for two A320neo jets were placed by Iberia. One ACJ319 Airbus Corporate Jetliner was ordered by a private customer.
During the month of July 2019, Airbus delivered a total of 69 aircraft – this time it was the airframer’s single-aisle jets that reigned. Out of the 69 deliveries, 52 were the members of the single-aisle A320 Family. Among other customers, South Korea’s Asiana Airlines took delivery of its first A321neo jetliner, while Ireland’s Aer Lingus welcomed the initial A321LR long-range version.
A more disappointing performance was shown by Airbus’ A220s: the company delivered only two planes during the month. The biggest blow was struck by Republic Airways – the U.S. regional airline has cancelled its long-standing order for 40 A220-300s. The order, noted in the plane maker’s June log, no longer features in its latest figures; the airline has not committed to other Airbus aircraft either.
Airbus’ wide-body deliveries comprised seven A330s (both the NEO and CEO), seven A350 XWBs in the A350-900 and A350-1000 versions, along with one A380 Superjumbo. July marked the delivery of first A350-1000 for British Airways as well as the first A330-900s delivered to Aircalin of New Caledonia and Indonesia’s Lion Air.
The cancellation of the A220 deal takes Airbus’ total net orders, for 2019 so far, from the 88 recorded through end of June to 79 aircraft as of July 31. The latest delivery figures bring the year’s total to 458 aircraft. Taking all of these numbers into account, Airbus’ backlog of jetliners remaining to be delivered as of July stand at 7,198.
