Airbus has reported it received two orders for the month of July, revealing a deep hit to the planemaker’s return to pre-pandemic levels.
The European planemaker released its orders and deliveries brief on 6 July, counting 47 deliveries to 32 customers and two orders to one customer.
While the giant reported a slump in both compared with previous months, the narrow-body A320 family remains the market favourite during the COVID-19 recovery.
The two orders were from budget Mexican airline Volaris for two narrow-body A320neo jets, the second highest ordered aircraft this year following the A321neo.
To date, 344 deliveries have been made from January to July to 69 customers.
Its deliveries were made to customers including Air France, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, JetBlue, China Eastern Airlines, Air China and various other smaller companies.
IndiGo, one of India’s budget airlines, received three A320neos and Wizz Air in Hungary received three A321neo aircraft.
China Eastern Airlines received three jets including two A320neos, and an A350 wide-body, a landmark delivery for both companies.
The A350 aircraft was delivered from Airbus’ Tianjin plant to China Eastern Airlines, as part of its expanding ‘global footprint’ in east Asia.
Airbus has been slowly expanding its operations to Asian markets over the past few months, ahead of its US competitor Boeing.
The two orders marked a huge drop from June, which boasted a net total of new orders minus cancellations of 38 jets for the year-to-date.
The orders in June were made up almost entirely of United Airlines’ previously announced order for 70 new Airbus A321neo aircraft.
While deliveries were steady in July, they were still far below previous months in 2021, seeing a 40 per cent drop from June.
Airbus reported 77 commercial aircraft deliveries to 44 customers in June, and 50 reported in May.
In 2019, mid-year reports showed Airbus logged 33 commercial jetliner orders – mostly wide-body A350s and A330s – and made 69 deliveries.
But in July, Airbus’ deliveries consisted of 45 narrow-body and two wide-body aircraft, a drastic shift in demand as single-aisle jets lead the COVID-19 recovery.
The market shift is clear in 2021’s year-to-date numbers because out of the 344 delivered commercial jets from Airbus, 303 of them have been single-aisle aircraft.
Industry leaders have said the wide-body market is growing weaker as the need for cheaper and more efficient aircraft remains prevalent.
Boeing has not released its July order and delivery results yet.
