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Airbus enjoys landmark month in October
Airbus has enjoyed a landmark month for new business in October – with orders logged for 415 new commercial jetliners.
This included one of the company’s largest-ever transactions with a single airline operator, and overall bookings that significantly strengthened the extra-long-range A321XLR’s market positioning – while the 77 deliveries brought the total number of A320neo and A321neo jetliners delivered to customers and operators above the 1,000 mark.
Airbus enjoyed a landmark month for new business in October 2019 – with orders logged for 415 new commercial jetliners / Picture: Getty/iStock
Order activity dominated by landmark IndiGo deal
Indian carrier IndiGo dominated October’s activity with its landmark order for 300 A320neo family aircraft, taking the airline’s overall order for the type to 730. This marked one of Airbus’ largest aircraft orders ever with a single airline operator.
Other bookings in October for the increasingly-popular A321XLR, included 30 for Malaysia’s AirAsia X, 20 for Hungarian-based Wizz Air, 12 for JetSMART of Chile, and two for an undisclosed customer. Another undisclosed customer ordered 13 A321XLRs in a transaction that also included 12 A330-900 highly efficient wide-bodies.
Completing the A320 family orders during the month was China Airlines’ contract for 11 A321neos, seven A320neos for Taiwan’s Tigerair, and an agreement by the US-based lessor Aviation Capital Group for three A320neos. Overall, the A320neo family reached a new milestone of over 7,000 orders from 113 customers with a backlog of more than 6,000.
New transactions were also booked in October for the latest member of Airbus’ single-aisle product line: the A220. France’s Réunion Island-based airline, Air Austral, signed a firm order for three A220s, becoming the first A220 customer in the Indian Ocean region; while Air Tanzania, the A220’s initial African-based operator, extended its fleet of A220-300s with two additional aircraft.
77 deliveries made to 45 customers
The 77 deliveries during the month were made to 45 customers and led by the A320 family with 59 deliveries (56 neos and three ceos). Since the A320neo family entry into service in 2016, October marked Airbus’ 1,000th A320neo family delivery, an aircraft which was received by IndiGo.
Among the other notable deliveries in October were the first A321neo for Taiwan’s STARLUX Airlines (through lessor GECAS). Completing the October deliveries were four A220s, along with 14 Airbus wide-body aircraft: eight A350-900s and six A330s (four neos and two ceos).
During the first 10 months of 2019, Airbus made 648 deliveries overall to 92 customers, compared with 584 aircraft over the same period of 2018 – equivalent to 64 more deliveries.
Taking the latest orders and deliveries into account, Airbus’ aircraft backlog as of 31 October stood at 7,471 aircraft. This includes 6,107 A320 family, 436 A220 family, 593 A350 XWBs, 284 A330s and 51 A380s.