The month in review: November 2011
Airbus maintained its sales and delivery pace in November, booking 149 orders for its A320, A330 and A380 jetliner families, while delivering 59 aircraft from these three product lines.
The A320neo new engine option for Airbus’ best-selling A320 Family once again led the month’s new business, with orders coming from key customers in the Middle East, United States and Europe.
ALAFCO, the Kuwait-based international aviation lease and finance company, ordered 50 A320neo jetliners, stating that this fuel-efficient new version was an absolute “must have” for its portfolio.
Qatar Airways selected the A320neo as the reference aircraft for expansion of its short- to medium-haul fleet, ordering all three aircraft types offered in this latest version: 30 A320neos, 14 A321neos and six A319neos.
Additionally, Aviation Capital Group – the United States-based global aircraft leasing company – signed a purchase agreement for 30 A320neo aircraft, while Transaero became the A320neo’s first customer in Russia and CIS with its order for eight of the jetliners.
With these bookings, firm orders for the A320neo Family reached 1,196, ordered by a total of 21 customers.
In other new business for November, Qatar Airways became the latest Airbus customer to place a repeat order for the A380 – adding five of the 21st century flagship airliners to its five already on contract. This brings total A380 orders to 243 from 18 customers.
Completing the month’s bookings were Hawaiian Airlines’ order for five more A330-200s – which will support the continued expansion of its network and replace the carrier’s current 767-300s; and BOC Aviation’s contract for an A330-300.
The sustained delivery cadence continued in November, with Airbus providing nearly two new aircraft per day. Its deliveries were composed of 45 A320 Family jetliners, 11 A330s (including another of the new A330-200F freighters), and three A380s (one each to Korean Air, Emirates and Qantas). As a result, Airbus delivered a total of 477 aircraft to 84 customers in 2011 through the end of November, compared to 461 during the same 11-month period last year.
With November’s new business and deliveries, Airbus’ total backlog stood at a new record of 4,453 – consisting of 3,348 A320 Family jetliners, 925 aircraft in the A330/A340/A350 XWB families, and 180 A380s.
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