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Airbus: Orders & deliveries

Direct News Source

Nov-2013 The month in review: October 2013

Airbus continued its strong performance in 2013 with the 153 order bookings and 59 deliveries during October, bringing the manufacturer's backlog to a new industry record of nearly 5,400 aircraft - representing some eight years of output at full production rates.

The business 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 XWB's customer list. SAS became new A350 XWB customer as well, firming up the Scandinavian carrier's previously-announced Memorandum of Understanding for eight A350-900s.

These transactions bring the A350 XWB sales total to more than 750 at one year prior to delivery startup for Airbus' extra widebody aircraft.

October also included orders for 20 A330s, confirming the on-going high demand for this ever-popular twin-aisle aircraft. From the growing Chinese marketplace, China Eastern contracted for six A330-200s and one A330-300; six A330-300s were booked by Air China; Hainan Airlines ordered one A330-200 and an A330-300; while China Southern placed an order for one A330-300.

Completing the A330 activity during the month was the sale of four A330-300s to SAS.

For the best-selling single-aisle A320 Family, October included Latin America's biggest Airbus aircraft order: VivaAerobus Group's booking for 40 new engine option A320neo aircraft and 12 A320ceo (current engine option) jetliners. This positions the Mexican low-cost carrier to become an all-Airbus airline by 2016.

In the United States, JetBlue Airways' acquisition of 15 A321ceo and 20 A321neo aircraft brought total A320 Family bookings past the 10,000 order mark - with this volume reaching 10,025 as of 31 October. Completing the month's A320 Family new business were the six A320ceo jetliners for UK-based easyJet, and an A319ceo for OHA Centre Street Aircraft Holdco.

More than 40 percent of A320 Family sales are now for the longest-fuselage A321, confirming the global trend for higher-capacity airliners.

Through the end of October, Airbus' overall net order intake for 2013 reached 1,215 aircraft.

The 59 deliveries during the month were composed of 47 A320 Family aircraft, eight A330s and four A380s. Receiving the A380s in October were British Airways, Emirates, Korean Air and Thai Airways. 18 A380s were delivered in 2013 (status end October).

Based on the 504 aircraft provided by Airbus from January through October, the overall year-to-date delivery rate increased by nine per cent when compared to the same period in 2012.