Airbus Updates No.753

The month in review: July 2012

Airbus added 48 aircraft to its order book in July with bookings for both the A320 and A330 families – with many of these agreements announced during the 2012 Farnborough Airshow, while the month’s 47 deliveries included three A380s – bringing the total number of 21st century flagship jetliners received by customers to 80.

For the single-aisle product line, the new business was led by Russian UTAir’s order for 20 A321s, representing the largest booking of this aircraft type from a carrier in the region and the first time UTAir has ordered Airbus aircraft. UTAir’s contract, along with the confirmation in July of an A319 order from Bhutan’s national airline Drukair, underscores the continued attractiveness of the current engine option (ceo) for A320 Family aircraft. 

  Also included in the month’s order book was one A321neo for Arkia Israeli Airlines, making the airline a new Airbus customer and marking the first airline in Israel to order A320 Family aircraft in the new engine option version.

This activity brought Airbus’ total net orders during the first half of 2012 to 270.

The month’s new business for Airbus widebody jetliners was paced by the CIT Group’s order for 10 additional A330 Family aircraft, including the first commitment for the new longer-range A330 in its 240 tonne takeoff weight variant. Other key bookings for July were Synergy Aerospace’s order for six A330-200 passenger jetliners and three A330-200F freighter aircraft, along with Afriqiyah Airways’ acquisition of three A330-200s. Also added to the order book in July was an A330-200 for an unnamed private customer.

Among the July deliveries were A380s for Emirates, Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines – reaching the jetliner’s 80th delivery milestone. With the aircraft in service with a total of eight airlines around the globe, an A380 takes off or lands every eight minutes.

Also delivered by Airbus during the month were 10 A330s and 34 A320 Family jetliners, bringing overall 2012 year-to-date deliveries to 326 aircraft – received by 76 customers.