Airbus booked 85 aircraft from across its product lines in April, including contracts that raised A350 XWB orders to near the 800 mark; while the month’s 52 deliveries covered all current-production jetliner families and involved the first U.S.-built A320-series aircraft.
One of April’s largest orders was China Eastern Airlines’ purchase agreement for 20 A350-900s. An undisclosed customer also acquired one A350-900 during the month. With these bookings, a total of 798 A350 XWBs had been ordered by 42 customers as of April 30.
Other widebody orders in April were for a total of 20 A330s, composed of 13 A330-300s and seven A330-200 versions, all of which were booked by undisclosed customers.
Airbus’ single-aisle A320 Family continued to expand its order book, with contracts during the month for 44 aircraft. Leading these sales was Delta Airlines’ order for 37 A321ceo (current engine option) aircraft, bringing the US-based operator’s overall A321 bookings to 82.
Also ordered in April were two A320ceo and two A320neo (new engine option) jetliners by Air Côte D’Ivoire, the national airline of Ivory Coast. This was the airline’s first purchase agreement directly with Airbus, making Air Côte D’Ivoire the initial African carrier with an A320neo order as well. From Latin America, Avianca acquired three A320neo aircraft.
Taking cancellations and conversions into account, Airbus’ gross orders logged in 2016 through April 30 totalled 92 jetliners.
The month’s deliveries were composed of 41 A320 Family aircraft, 6 A330s, two A350 XWBs (for Singapore Airlines and Finnair) and three A380s (two to Emirates, and one for Etihad Airways). Among the milestones was the initial A320 Family jetliner delivered from the new U.S. final assembly line in Mobile, Alabama – an A321 version provided to JetBlue. Airbus anticipates delivering four aircraft per month from the Mobile facility by the end of 2017, joining the other Airbus final assembly lines in Hamburg, Germany; Toulouse, France; and Tianjin, China in a global network that has around-the-clock production coverage.
Eight of the single-aisle jetliners delivered by Airbus during April were for five carriers in the United States marketplace, received by JetBlue, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines.
Taking the month’s deliveries into account, the total number of A320 Family aircraft provided to customers worldwide has now surpassed 7,000.
Airbus’ backlog stood at 6,746 aircraft to be delivered as of April 30.