Airbus Loses A330neo Orders in March
Airbus lost a fifth of outstanding orders for its A330neo long-haul jet in March as the plane’s largest customer went through restructuring, but won sales elsewhere for more than 100 of its smaller jets, monthly data showed on Friday.
AirAsia X cancelled 63 of the A330-900 version of the A330neo, an upgrade of the long-established A330 wide-body model, as well as 10 smaller A321neo aircraft, Airbus said.
→ Airbus Cancels Third A350 Contract In Dispute With Qatar Airways.
The European planemaker also said it had delivered 142 planes in the first quarter, up more than 13% on the year.
But the net number of deliveries stood at 140 after two for Aeroflot were cancelled due to sanctions on Russia, Reuters reported.
Airbus had counted the two A350 deliveries for Aeroflot in its end-year tally in December as part of its forecast-beating annual deliveries, but the planes did not fly to Russia. Airbus has also cancelled the associated Aeroflot order, data showed.
“Airbus may seek new owners for these assets,” Jefferies analyst Chloe Lemarie said in a note.
→ Eurowings Receives its First A320neo.
Industry sources have said Airbus is trying to sell surplus A350s to Air India including three which it claims to have available as a result of a spat with Qatar Airways.
The announcement came as Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury told a German newspaper that Airbus is sticking to its goal of raising benchmark narrow-body production to 65 a month by summer 2023, and reaffirmed financial goals despite the war in Ukraine.
After Friday’s rejig of orders, Airbus has 200 undelivered A330neos in its order book versus 265 a month ago. These include 28 for Iran under a nuclear deal that collapsed in 2018, though Tehran is in talks with major powers aimed at reviving the deal.
Airbus said on Friday it had sold a total of 253 jets in the first quarter or a net total of 83 after cancellations.
Photo: Alex Cheban/Wikipedia
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