Airbus has won bragging rights for the most commercial airliner orders for 2013, announcing on Monday that it took net orders for 1,503 aircraft worth US$225 billion at list prices, which compares to Boeing’s earlier announced net order tally for 2013 of 1,355 aircraft worth US$198 billion.
But Boeing delivered more aircraft, handing over 648 jets in 2013, compared to Airbus’s 626 deliveries, which is still a company record for Airbus, and represents the 12th year of increased aircraft deliveries. Airbus is also able to boast the bigger aircraft order backlog, at 5,559 aircraft compared to Boeing’s 5,080.
But Airbus CEO Fabrice Bregier told a press conference in Paris on Monday that he expected new aircraft orders to slow in 2014.
“We don’t expect to reach 1,500 net orders again in 2014,” Brégier said. “That would probably not be in line with the market trend.”
Bregier also said Airbus expected to deliver the first A350 to launch customer Qatar Airways by the end of December this year, with certification on track for the end of September.
Airbus says highlights for 2013 include the first flight of the A350 XWB, the first deliveries of the military A400M airlifter, the A320neo surpassing 2,600 orders and the A380 passing 300 sales, the launch of lounger range and regional A330 variants, and A330 production reaching a record 10 per month rate.
Separately, Airbus has announced it has increased its aircraft list prices for 2014 by an average of 2.6 per cent. The new list prics, in US dollars, are tabled below
| A318 | 71.9 |
| A319 | 85.8 |
| A320 | 93.9 |
| A321 | 110.1 |
| A319neo | 94.4 |
| A320neo | 102.8 |
| A321neo | 120.5 |
| A330-200 | 221.7 |
| A330-200F | 224.8 |
| A330-300 | 245.6 |
| A350-800 | 260.9 |
| A350-900 | 295.2 |
| A350-1000 | 340.7 |
| A380 | 414.4 |
