US widebody aircraft market: Boeing's upper hand in aircraft orders

A decision by American Airlines to cancel its order for Airbus A350s and opt for 47 Boeing 787 widebodies surprised no-one. The airline had been hinting for quite some time that the order was somewhat of an outlier as it worked to simplify its widebody fleet for the future.

American's cancellation of its Airbus A350s followed a decision by Hawaiian Airlines to cancel an order for six Airbus A330-800s and instead order 10 Boeing 787-10s. American's and Hawaiian's selection of the 787 has resulted in a diminished widebody order backlog for Airbus in the US.

For now, US airlines appear to have their large widebody order books firmed up for the foreseeable future. But they are eager for mid-market aircraft as the replacements of aging Boeing 757s and 767s, a development that is now the next phase of intense competition for Boeing and Airbus.