Airbus tops Boeing on deliveries and avoids order cancellations while fighting for revenue.

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5 years ago

Airbus delivered 39 aircraft last month and avoided order cancellations as it struggles to maintain revenue flow in a market hit by the coronavirus crisis.

August deliveries included 35 narrow-body A320 series aircraft and four two-aisle jets, with an overall count 10 below July’s figure, the Toulouse, France-based company said in a statement Tuesday.

Boeing previously said it delivered 13 aircraft in August, in an update eclipsed by news that deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner will be slowed to verify a manufacturing flaw involving gaps in the plane’s horizontal stabilizer that are wider than specified.

Even without the Dreamliner setback, Airbus has been ahead of its rival to overcome the pandemic, while Boeing continues to struggle with the grounding of its short-haul 737 Max aircraft after two fatal accidents. Overall, the European carrier has managed to persuade airlines, including EasyJet Plc and Qatar Airways, to postpone deliveries rather than cancel agreements directly.

Airbus customers who purchased aircraft in August included Gulf Air, which took its first A321neo, and Portuguese airline Orbest, which received an initial wide-body A330-900.

New sales remain a rarity, and Airbus reported an order for only one new aircraft, a corporate version of the A320 and Boeing eight.

Delays may increase as the virus continues to affect the industry, with new outbreaks across Europe pushing operators to control already modest aircraft to restore capacity.

While Airbus can shore up its order book through such measures, it risks leaving large gaps in production lines that have already seen production cut, said Sash Tusa, an analyst at Agency Partners in London.

By Bloomberg – La República