Airbus logged 56 orders for its single-aisle and widebody jetliners in September, including key bookings for the A320neo Family and A350 XWB; while performing 55 deliveries from across the A320, A330, A350 XWB and A380 commercial aircraft product families.
Leading the month’s new business was Cathay Pacific Airways’ firm order for 32 A321neo versions, which will be operated by the airline regional Asian carrier Hong Kong-based Cathay Dragon.
Other single-aisle jetliner orders were four A320ceo booked by Japan’s Peach Aviation, two A321ceo aircraft for Air Lease Corporation of the U.S., and two A320neo for an undisclosed customer.
Topping the widebody orders in September was United Airlines’ upsizing of the U.S. carrier’s A350 XWB order book with an additional 10 A350-900s. Also logged were four A330-300 and two A330-900 orders for undisclosed customers.
With these latest transactions, Airbus’ overall net orders for the first nine months of 2017 totalled 271 jetliners.
Deliveries during the month were led by 40 A320 Family aircraft (of which 14 were the A320neo/A321neo versions); along with seven A330-300s; seven A350-900s and one A380.
Among the delivery highlights was the first A330 provided from Airbus’ new A330 Completion and Delivery Centre in Tianjin, China, received by Tianjin Airlines. Additionally, the A350-900 deliveries during September further confirmed the A350 XWB’s production ramp-up with a total of 50 deliveries so far this year, on track to reach the planned rate of 10 per month by the end 2018.
Taking the month’s order and delivery activity into account, Airbus’ overall backlog of jetliners as of 30 September stood at 6,691– the equivalent of approximately nine years of production at current rates.