Airbus Updates No.903

The month in review: December 2012

	A300/A310	Single Aisle	A330/A340/A350	A380	Total
Total orders	816	9031	2203	262	12312
Total deliveries	816	5402	1315	97	7630
Aircraft in operation	478	5234	1293	97	7102

New business logged during December boosted Airbus’ order volume well beyond its 2012 goal, while deliveries in the year’s close-out month broke several new company records.

With a total of 268 aircraft bookings added in December, the year’s total gross orders reached 914 – resulting in 833 net orders for 2012 when adjustments and cancellations are taken into account. This exceeded Airbus’ 650 order target for the 12 months by 41 per cent.

The December sales volume included several large A320 Family bookings, and provided a total of 155 additional orders for the A320neo product line – giving this new engine option version of Airbus’ best-selling single-aisle jetliner series an overall 62 per cent market share when compared to its direct competitor.

A320neo Family contracts during the month were Pegasus Airlines’ order for 57 A320neo and 18 A321neo aircraft, the booking by Citilink for 25 A320neo jetliners, Avolon’s order for 20 A320neos, and Middle East Airlines’ agreement to acquire five A320neo jetliners plus five A321neo aircraft.

BOC Aviation placed a large mixed order, acquiring 25 A320/A321neo aircraft and another 25 A320/A321ceo (current engine option) versions. Also included in the month’s single-aisle new business was an undisclosed customer’s booking for 60 A320ceo Family aircraft (composed of 12 A319s, 16 A320s and 32 A321s).

This volume took Airbus’ overall single-aisle order totals beyond the 9,000 milestone, of which 1,734 are for the A320neo Family.

Completing the bookings in December was Singapore Airlines’ repeat order endorsement for Airbus widebody jetliners, acquiring an additional 20 A350 XWB aircraft in the -900 configuration, along with five more A380s; as well as an order from an undisclosed customer for three A330-300s.

Airbus provided 72 jetliners to customers in December, breaking company records for a month’s delivery performance with the A320 Family (54) as well as for the A330/A340 (13). This included the final two A340-500s, received by AJW Capital Partners Ltd. for operation by Azerbaijan Airlines – which brings the A340 production programme to a close.

Also during the month, Airbus handed over a total of five A380s, taking the 2012 deliveries for this 21st century flagship jetliner to 30.

Based on the year-end orders and deliveries, Airbus completed 2012 with an industry record backlog of 4,682 aircraft – up from 4,437 at 31December 2011.