Airbus acknowledged reports last Thursday that Quantas has cancelled an order for its 8 remaining A380 aircraft. The announcement comes on the heels of Emirates re-evaluating its decision to add on to its remaining Super Jumbo order book.
Qantas Airlines of Australia confirmed it would not take any more of the world’s largest airplane, operating a fleet of 12 aircraft, instead of the 20 it had originally ordered. This news comes on the heels of Airbus’ largest A380 customer Emirates beginning discussions with Airbus over the possibility of changing some, or all, of its remaining A380 orders to smaller A350 or A330neo models after failing to secure an engine contract from Rolls-Royce for the last A380 order it placed.
Airbus has declined to comment on the future of the A380 at this time, but reports indicate that an announcement could come as soon as this Thursday.
Airbus also reported the cancellation of an order for five of its smallest aircraft, the 110-seat A220-100. The identity of the A220 buyer was not disclosed, but is widely believed to be the Swiss-based business charter carrier PrivatAir, which filed for insolvency at the end of 2018. PrivatAir had placed an ordered for 5 of the type, the Canadian Bombardier CS100 at the time of the order, in early 2012.
The next era of air travel is just around the corner.
Delta’s newest narrowbody jet, the state-of-the-art A200-100, is just days away from entering service, with inaugural flights set to depart this Thursday, Feb. 7, from New York’s LaGuardia airport.
While in many ways the A220 represents the future – from a state-of-the-art interior to superior fuel efficiency – it also represents years of hard work on behalf of Delta employees across the airline.
Behind-the-scenes, a team of Delta employees, in partnership with Airbus, have been working together for months to prepare North America’s first A220 for service. From honing in on the aircraft’s design to proving that flight crews can safely evacuate the aircraft in 15 seconds or less – the to-do list for readying a new aircraft is long, and often unexpected.
Today, Delta is launching the “Best in Class” A220 miniseries to dive into these efforts. In this three-part series, viewers will hear from Delta people across the business who’ve played a critical role in preparing the A220 to join Delta’s fleet, while keeping customers at the forefront in each decision along the way.
In the first episode, “Coming Together,” we begin with Delta employees gearing up to sell A220 tickets for the first time. Follow along as Delta’s very first A220 goes through the assembly line, paint shop, and ultimately touches down in Delta’s hometown of Atlanta.
Stay tuned for Best in Class Episode 2: “Inside and Out.”
Airbus’ manufacturing growth in the United States advanced another step today in Mobile, Alabama, as construction of the company’s A220 Manufacturing Facility officially launched with a groundbreaking ceremony. The assembly line will satisfy the strong and growing U.S. demand for the A220 aircraft, the newest offering in Airbus’ commercial aircraft product line.
Tom Enders, CEO of Airbus, and Guillaume Faury, President Airbus Commercial Aircraft led the celebration and welcomed approximately 700 attendees including Airbus and other industry executives, Airbus manufacturing employees, state and national dignitaries, and local community leaders.
The new assembly line, which is the company’s second U.S.-based commercial aircraft production facility, will be located at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley adjacent to the A320 Family production line and will facilitate assembly of A220-100 and A220-300 aircraft for U.S. customers. Aircraft production is planned to begin in Q3 2019; with first delivery of a Mobile assembled A220 aircraft scheduled for 2020. The new A220 production facilities will be complete by next year.
Airbus has strong and longstanding ties to the United States, with Airbus aircraft being operated by the largest airlines in America. Additionally, Airbus is a major partner of U.S. aerospace companies and workers. In the last three years, Airbus spent $48 billion in the United States with hundreds of U.S. suppliers in more than 40 states, translating into Airbus support of more than 275,000 American jobs. Among its facilities in the U.S. Airbus has: engineering centers in Kansas and Alabama; a major training facility in Florida and soon one in Colorado; materials support and headquarters in Virginia; an A320 Family assembly line delivering aircraft in Alabama; an innovative think tank (A3 ) in California; a drone data analysis business (Airbus Aerial) in Atlanta, Georgia; helicopter manufacturing and assembly facilities in Texas and Mississippi; and a satellite manufacturing facility (OneWeb) in Florida.
The A220 is the only aircraft purpose-built for the 100-150 seat market; it delivers unbeatable fuel efficiency and true widebody comfort in a single-aisle aircraft. The A220 brings together state-of-the-art aerodynamics, advanced materials and Pratt & Whitney’s latest-generation PW1500G geared turbofan engines to offer at least 20 percent lower fuel burn per seat compared to previous generation aircraft. With a range of up to 3,200 nm (5920 km), the A220 offers the performance of larger single-aisle aircraft.
With an order book of more than 500 aircraft to date, the A220 has all the credentials to win the lion’s share of the 100- to 150-seat aircraft market estimated to represent at least 7,000 aircraft over the next 20 years.
MONTREAL (Reuters) – Europe’s Airbus is looking for a “significant double-digit” percentage reduction in costs for a recently acquired Canadian jet program, as it expands production capacity to cope with anticipated demand for the former Bombardier jet.
Philippe Balducchi, head of an Airbus-led venture which took over production of the loss-making A220 last year, indicated the bulk of the reduction in costs would come from the supply chain as Airbus uses its greater clout in negotiations for parts.
Other savings would come from more efficient operations as workers gain experience of building the lightweight 110-130-seat jet, whose deliveries doubled to 33 aircraft last year.
But overall economies will go “way beyond” what Airbus can achieve internally on the assembly line, Balducchi said.
“Our focus is to sell, ramp up (production) and reduce costs on the A220,” Rob Dewar, head of engineering and customer support, added during a media briefing on the jet, which was known as the CSeries until Airbus took control in July 2018.
The A220 consortium, which also includes Bombardier and the Quebec government, is spending some $30 million to expand its Mirabel production plant outside Montreal and will break ground this week on a new assembly line in Alabama for U.S. airlines.
Airbus meanwhile said the Canadian-developed A220 jet had won approval to fly up to three hours away from the nearest airport in the event of a shutdown of one of its two engines – a safety standard which underpins its use on longer-range routes.
The green light has been given by Canada, while approvals in the United States and Europe are pending, Airbus officials said.
The extended operations or ETOPS approval affects the number of routes the plane can fly over water or remote areas.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; editing by Richard Lough and Jan Harvey)
Deliveries total 800 aircraft, 11 percent higher than in 2017
Net orders total 747, backlog increases to 7,577 aircraft
Airbus SE (stock exchange symbol: AIR) delivered 800 commercial aircraft to 93 customers in 2018, meeting its full year delivery guidance and setting a new company record. Deliveries were 11 percent higher than the previous record of 718 units, set in 2017. For the 16th year in a row now, Airbus has increased the number of commercial aircraft deliveries on an annual basis.
In total, the 2018 commercial aircraft deliveries comprise:
20 A220s (since it became part of the Airbus family in July 2018);
626 A320 Family (vs 558 in 2017), of which 386 were A320neo Family (vs 181 NEOs in 2017);
49 A330s (vs 67 in 2017) including the first three A330neo in 2018;
93 A350 XWBs (vs 78 in 2017);
12 A380s (vs 15 in 2017).
In terms of sales, Airbus achieved 747 net orders during 2018 compared with 1,109 net orders in 2017. At the end of 2018, the backlog of Airbus commercial aircraft reached a new industry record and stood at 7,577 aircraft, including 480 A220s, compared with 7,265 at the end of 2017.
“Despite significant operational challenges, Airbus continued its production ramp-up and delivered a record number of aircraft in 2018. I salute our teams around the globe who worked until the end of the year to meet our commitments,” said Guillaume Faury, President Airbus Commercial Aircraft. “I am equally pleased about the healthy order intake as it shows the underlying strength of the commercial aircraft market and the trust our customers are placing in us. My gratitude goes out to all of them for their ongoing support.” He added: “As we look to further increase our industrial efficiency, we will continue making the digitalisation of our business a key priority.”
Over the last 16 years, Airbus has steadily increased its production year-by-year with the final assembly lines in Hamburg, Toulouse, Tianjin and Mobile complemented by the addition of the A220 line in Mirabel, Canada, during 2018. A notable contribution to Airbus’ delivery increase in 2018 came from the final assembly lines in the US and China. For the top-selling A320 Family in particular, the Final Assembly Line (FAL) in Mobile, Alabama, saw its 100th delivery, and is now producing in excess of four units per month. Meanwhile, Airbus’ “FAL Asia” in Tianjin, China, achieved its 400th A320 delivery, while in Germany Airbus commenced operations of its new, fourth production line in Hamburg. Overall, the A320 programme is on track to achieve rate 60 per month for the A320 Family by mid-2019. The Airbus teams successfully reached an important industrial milestone for the A350, achieving the targeted rate of 10 aircraft per month.
Airbus will report Full Year 2018 financial results on 14 February 2019.
Footnote: The Full-Year 2018 net orders and backlog represent the contractual view. The Full-Year 2018 backlog value will be measured under IFRS 15 and will reflect the recoverable amount of revenues under these contracts. A significant reduction in order backlog value is expected mainly due to the adjustment for net prices versus list prices. The FY 2017 backlog will not be restated.
PARIS (Reuters) – Europe’s Airbus lost out to Boeing in 2018, breaking a five-year winning streak against its U.S. rival for the number of jet orders, slumping to its lowest share of the $150 billion jet market in six years, data showed on Wednesday.
Airbus posted 747 net 2018 orders, down 33 percent from the previous year, including 135 for the A220 jetliner which it took over from Canada’s Bombardier in July. Boeing beat Airbus for the first time since 2012 with 893 net orders.
Airbus delivered 800 jets, up 11 percent, including 20 of the small A220 model, leaving Boeing as the world’s largest planemaker by manufacturing volume for a seventh straight year.
Although Boeing missed its delivery target and Airbus had previously lowered its target due to strains on the industry’s global supply chain, strong demand for passenger jets expanded total deliveries by 8 percent, the fastest pace in six years.
Planemaking chief Guillaume Faury welcomed the deliveries, which set a company record, and a “healthy order intake,” with waiting lists for many new jets stretching for up to 7 years.
Insiders say the quest for new business has, however, been overshadowed in the past year by industrial problems, management changes and morale problems coinciding with a corruption probe.
A resurgent Boeing has been cashing in on greater availability and declining costs for its 787 Dreamliner, while struggling to contain its European rival in the lucrative segment for large narrowbody jets just above 200 seats.
The order figures underscore Airbus’s decision to take over the lightweight but loss-making Bombardier CSeries aircraft, generating 135 orders worth $12 billion at list prices.
Without that boost, Airbus took just 41 percent of the core market in which it competes with Boeing, the lowest since 2009.
Highlighting the pressure Airbus has been facing recently in the market for large, high-margin wide-body jets, the European company was outsold three to one by Boeing for a second year.
However it reached a targeted production rate of 10 aircraft a month for its wide-body A350, which competes with the 787 and larger 777, at the end of the year, company officials said.
Airbus also trimmed the order list for its slow-selling A380 superjumbo, officially cancelling an order for 10 from Hong Kong Airlines four years after Reuters first reported that the airline had axed the deal, triggering financial negotiations.
The world’s largest airliner is mostly dependent on Dubai’s Emirates as Airbus slows production to a trickle in the hope of a future upturn, though many airlines are for now backing smaller jets.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Editing by Dominique Vidalon and Elaine Hardcastle)
JetBlue Airways has firmed up an order for 60 A220-300 aircraft, the larger model of the new, industry-leading A220 series.
“As we approach our 20th anniversary, the impressive range and economics of the highly efficient A220, combined with the outstanding performance of our existing fleet of Airbus A321 and restyled A320 aircraft, will help ensure we deliver the best onboard experience to customers and meet our long-term financial targets as we continue disciplined growth into the future,” said Robin Hayes, Chief Executive Officer, JetBlue.
JetBlue’s existing Airbus fleet includes 193 A320 and A321ceo aircraft in operation, with an additional 85 A321neo aircraft on order.
“JetBlue has proven there is no contradiction between economic efficiency and a high quality product,” said Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer. “Their endorsement of the A220 proves this aircraft meets those two criteria better than any alternative in its segment. Thank you JetBlue and congratulations on this big milestone in your growth.”
The order was completed the last week of December. Airbus will produce the A220-300 aircraft at a new U.S. assembly facility in Mobile, Alabama. Construction of the plant, to be located adjacent to the existing Airbus A320 assembly facility, will begin later this month.
The A220 is the only aircraft purpose built for the 100-150 seat market; it delivers unbeatable fuel efficiency and true widebody comfort in a single-aisle aircraft. The A220 brings together state-of-the-art aerodynamics, advanced materials and Pratt & Whitney’s latest-generation PW1500G geared turbofan engines to offer at least 20 percent lower fuel burn per seat compared to previous generation aircraft. With a range of up to 3,200 nm (5,020 km), the A220 offers the performance of larger single-aisle aircraft.
With an order book of more than 500 aircraft to date, the A220 has all the credentials to win the lion’s share of the 100- to 150-seat aircraft market estimated to represent at least 7,000 aircraft over the next 20 years.
Alaska Air Group would be an ideal buyer and operator of Embraer’s new E2 regional jet, the Brazilian jet maker’s top airplane salesman said.
Embraer Commercial Aircraft’s vice president of marketing, rodrigo Silva e Souza, made the remarks as he spoke to reporters at Embraer’s facility at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Embraer SA (EMBR3.SA) has signed a firm order with United Airlines (UAL.N) for twenty-five 70-seat E175 jets, the Brazilian planemaker said on Monday, providing a boost to the company shortly after JetBlue Airways Corp (JBLU.O) opted to replace its fleet of Embraer jets with ones made by Airbus SE (AIR.PA).
Under the contract, worth $1.1 billion at current market value, Embraer is set to deliver the jets in the second quarter of 2019, Embraer said in a statement.
Earlier in July, JetBlue announced it would buy 60 A220-300 narrowbody jets from Airbus, sending down shares in Embraer. The A220 will replace JetBlue’s existing fleet of 60 Embraer E190 aircraft, with those jets retiring beginning in 2020.
That came shortly after Embraer and Boeing Co (BA.N) struck a deal creating a new $4.75 billion joint venture, effectively reshaping the global passenger jet industry.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
JetBlue Airways Corp. got a great deal on its latest aircraft purchase from Airbus SE, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The carrier probably paid $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion for 60 Airbus A220-300 jets, or between $23 million and $28 million per plane, Moody’s analyst Jonathan Root said in a report Friday, citing estimates by appraisers and price breaks that are typical for large orders. “As with most campaigns, we believe the decision comes down to the lowest all-in cost, because the narrow-body aircraft manufactured by Airbus and Boeing have similar capabilities and operating costs for the majority of operators,” he said.
