Airbus Secures 19 Orders In November

Airbus added 19 new orders in November and delivered 44 aircraft, including the 400th A330-200. New orders included 11 single-aisles, comprising five A320s for Spain’s Iberia and six for Taiwanese carrier TransAsia Airways, and eight widebodies, including six A330-200s for Hawaiian Air and two -300s for TransAsia. These orders take Airbus’s year-to-date gross sales to 440 aircraft, which fall to 388 when adjusted for the 32 cancellations suffered so far in 2010. This latter figure was unchanged during November. Output across the manufacturer’s plants in Toulouse, Hamburg and Tianjin is on course to reach a new annual production record, with the 44 aircraft shipped in November taking the 11-month tally to 461 aircraft. Lessor CIT was the recipient of Airbus’s 400th A330-200 passenger aircraft during November, which it leased to Qantas. The current output rate should see the manufacturer beat its previous annual record of 498 deliveries, which it set last year. However it remains to be seen if Airbus will manage to push its total orders through 10,000 units before year-end—the current tally stands 126 shy of that milestone, at 9,874 aircraft. The firm backlog at the end of November stood at 3,415 aircraft.