Airbus Order Tally Remains in Negative Territory

By: Gregory Polek

March 17, 2009
Aerospace Industry, Aircraft

Airbus continued to register a negative sales tally this year as the company booked orders for just a pair of A380s from Korean Air while it saw cancellations of a single A319 and an A320, both from Dutch-Kuwaiti leasing alliance AerVenture, during February. With the cancellation of 12 airplanes in January and firm orders for just four A321s from Turkish Airlines, its order count remained in negative territory by eight airplanes at the end of last month, notwithstanding the company’s announcement on February 27 that Korean Air had placed a firm order for six A330-200s.

As of today, however, the order ostensibly placed by the Korean flag carrier “is being finalized, and the Korean order should appear in the official orders table in due course,” an Airbus spokesman told AIN.

Boeing, meanwhile, as of March 10 continued to register a negative order count for the year as well. So far this year Boeing has collected firm orders for 19 Next Generation 737s–one from Alaska Airlines, 13 from Ryanair and five from Southwest Airlines. Most recently it added orders for three 777s, including a single example from Air New Zealand and an order for a pair from an unidentified customer. But the cancellation of 32 B787s–including 16 from Dubai-based leasing company LCAL and 15 from Russia’s S7–continues to result in a net order decline, currently totaling 10 airplanes.

Last year Airbus logged a net order total of 777 airplanes, including more than 250 in January and February. Boeing finished 2008 with net orders for 662, including a total of 190 during the first two months of the year.

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