Airbus soars with 318 orders in November

Airbus has reported more than a triple increase in orders in the month of November, as it continues to bounce back from the pandemic slump.

The European planemaker reported 318 orders last month and 58 deliveries, heavily led by its single-aisle aircraft.

The Dubai Airshow was the key contributor to Airbus’ significant increase in orders, as the company was able to secure 269 firm orders during the biennial event.

The largest was penned by Indigo Partners portfolio airlines – a private firm which sells aircraft to multiple low-cost carriers – which placed a firm order of 255 A321neo aircraft, including 29XLR.

Under the firm, European carrier Wizz Air ordered 102 aircraft, United States-based Frontier ordered 91, Mexican airline Volaris ordered 39 aircraft and Chilean airline JetSMART ordered 23.

Italy’s new state-owned airline Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA) placed an order of 11 A320neo jets, after having replaced predecessor Alitalia in October, and choosing to operate solely on Airbus aircraft.

It came after ITA confirmed it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airbus in September to purchase seven A220 jets, 11 A320neo jets and 10 A330neos to begin operations.

ITA also signed a deal with Air Lease Corp for a long-term order of 31 Airbus aircraft, consisting of 15 A220s, two more A320neos, nine A321neos and five A330-900neos.

Some of the other customers during the month of November, which made smaller orders, included Ibom Air, EasyJet and an unidentified private customer.

Now, Airbus boasts its gross orders have grown up to 610 for the year, and while it is significantly lower compared with before the pandemic, it shows the industry is jumping back on its feet again.

It comes as Airbus reported only 22 orders in October, which is a major increase from its lowest month in July when the company had received just two orders for two A320neo aircraft.

Airbus also delivered 58 aircraft to 34 customers during November; a slight increase from October.

Meanwhile, United States competitor Boeing is yet to release its November figures, but the company is seemingly bouncing back slower due to the continuous 737 MAX scrutiny.

At the air show, the company only received 101 orders from customers, and in October penned just 10 orders for the 737 MAX and the 777F.