Airbus has maintained its strong performance with the 153 order bookings and 59 deliveries during October. The new business brings the manufacturer’s backlog to a new industry record of nearly 5,400 aircraft, representing eight years of output at full production rates.
New orders included Japan Airlines’ milestone order for 18 A350-900 and 13 A350-1000 jetliners, which represented a breakthrough for Airbus in the Japanese market and added another operator to the A350 customer list. SAS also became a new A350 customer, firming up an MoU for eight A350-900s. With a year to go until A350 deliveries begin, Airbus now has more than 750 order for the aircraft.
October also included orders for 20 A330s led by the burgeoning Chinese market, including China Eastern’s contract for six A330-200s and one A330-300, six A330-300s by Air China, one A330-200 and an A330-300 by Hainan Airlines and one A330-300 for China Southern. Completing A330 orders in October was the sale of four A330-300s to SAS.
A320 family orders included Latin America’s biggest Airbus aircraft order – VivaAerobus Group’s booking for 52 A320s. In the US, JetBlue’s acquisition of 15 A321s brought total A320 family orders past the 10,000 order mark – with this volume reaching 10,025 as of October 31. A320s were also ordered by based easyJet, while one A319 was ordered by OHA Centre Street Aircraft Holdco.
To the end of October, Airbus’s overall net orders for 2013 reached 1,215.
The 59 deliveries during the month comprised 47 A320 family aircraft, eight A330s and four A380s.
Based on the 504 aircraft delivered by Airbus from January to October, the overall year-to-date delivery rate increased by nine per cent when compared to the same period in 2012.
