THE MONTH IN REVIEW: APRIL 2018
Airbus booked orders for a total of 68 A320 and A330 family jetliners in April while making 51 deliveries from across its commercial aircraft product lines. During the month, customers for A320neo-series jetliners reached the 100 mark, and three additional airlines joined the list of carriers operating A320 Family aircraft in the NEO version.
The new business for single-aisle jetliners in April was led by SAS Group’s signing of a firm order for 35 A320neo aircraft, building on a 38-year relationship between SAS and Airbus. As SAS also plans to lease 15 additional A320neos from lessors, these steps mark an important new strategic commitment that will lead to the carrier becoming an all-Airbus operator with the A320 Family for its mainline European operations and the extensive domestic services in Scandinavia.
Also included in the April sales activity was one undisclosed customer’s order for 22 A319neo versions and five A319ceo aircraft, while a booking for three A320ceo jetliners was logged for an undisclosed customer. Additionally, the Kingdom of Bhutan’s Drukair ordered one A320neo, and U.S. low-cost carrier Allegiant signed for one A320ceo.
From the widebody product line, the month’s new business involved SAS’ order of an A330-300.
With April’s bookings and cancellations taken into account, net orders logged by Airbus during the first four months of 2018 totalled 86 jetliners.
During April, 36 A320 Family aircraft deliveries were made (including 17 in the NEO configuration), along with four widebody A330-200/A330-300s, eight A350-900s and three A380s. These jetliners were received by 34 customers and included the first A320neo deliveries to TAP Air Portugal and British Airways, along with the first A321neo delivery to Primera Air.
Based on the month’s order and delivery activity, Airbus’ overall backlog of jetliners remaining to be delivered as of 30 April totalled 7,179 aircraft, representing approximately nine years of production at current rates. This volume was composed of 6,109 aircraft from the A320 Family, 300 A330-series jetliners (of which 86 are in the CEO version and 214 in the NEO configuration), along with 665 A350 XWBs and 105 A380s.