Airbus News

Emirates A380 A6-EOC was delivered Finkenwerder – Dubai this evening as EK7380. This brings the Emirates A380 fleet up to 55 aircraft.

A350 XWB route proving with MSN5.

Airbus sold 248 aircraft in November, with total orders between January and November sitting at 1,328, or 1,031 net orders. Airbus has delivered delivered 554 so far in 2014. November's Airbus sales included a total of 120 A320-family aircraft to three unidentified customers. However, CIT Leasing cancelled an order for one of 15 new-generation A350-900s as it finalised an order for 15 upgraded A330neos.

Airbus remains behind Boeing in what could be a tight finish to their annual order race. On Thursday, Boeing reported 1,380 orders between January 1 and December 2, including 100 737 MAX confirmed by Ryanair. Net orders stood at 1,274 aircraft. Boeing delivered 647 aircraft in the first 11 months.

The two plane makers are heading towards a stronger than expected order intake for 2014, as airlines seek the fuel savings offered by more efficient models. Airbus, which is already above its net order target for 2014, has a further 500 provisional orders announced but not yet finalised. Some of these typically get booked in December. Boeing looks set to top 1,300 net orders for a second year running, exceeding an internal target of 1,100 and reaching what had seemed a stretching scenario just a few months ago.

Airbus said its waiting list of aircraft sold but not yet delivered had risen above 6,000 units for the first time. Both firms use overbooking to guarantee a taker for each aircraft produced, mimicking the technique used by airlines to fill seats, meaning some unfilled orders will trickle away. In a sign of previous overbooking, industry sources say Airbus has been pushing buyers of the current-generation A320 to upgrade to the newer A320neo so that it can halt production of the older model in 2018, as planned, and contain costs.

Completing the switch on time while ramping up the A350 are seen as crucial to its margin goals. In November, JetBlue converted an order for 10 A321s to the A321neo. The tally included the first firm orders for the upgraded A330neo but left unresolved questions over a gap in orders for the current version, which has already seen a production cut. Airbus has said it is negotiating a potential deal with China, but analysts say assuring smooth cash generation from the A330 remains one of its key challenges in the next two years.

(Reuters)

Qatar Airways is expected to take delivery of their first Airbus A350XWB which will also represent the first of that model to be delivered, on Dec 13, 2014. The first revenue flight is expected to come in January 2015 and will be from Doha to Frankfurt.

A look at the painting of the first A350 XWB for Qatar Airways...

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=887908211228100

Trouble for Airbus?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/airbus-says-first-delivery-a350-123141889.html

AirAsia X boosted its purchase of Airbus A330neos as it placed a firm order for 55 of the updated wide-body aircraft. AirAsia's long-haul arm placed a provisional order for 50 of the aircraft at the Farnborough AirShow in July. These orders have now been confirmed along with 5 more of the same model, Airbus said in a statement. The expanded order is worth USD$15 billion at list prices. The aircraft purchase means an order for Trent 7000 engines from Rolls-Royce, the sole supplier on the A330neo.

(Reuters)

As may of you know, the delivery date for Qatar Airways first A350XWB was postponed but it now looks set for the 22nd of Dec.

Qatar Airways finally takes delivery of their first A350XWB... see pictures from the ceremony on their FB page.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.894962073856047.1073741912.198317336853861&type=1

Airbus delivered the first A350 to Qatar Airways on Monday and moved to end speculation about the future of the A380. Delivery of the A350 came 10 days later than originally planned after Qatar Airways had last-minute problems with one of the suppliers of "buyer furnished equipment" - items such as seats and galleys that the airline buys directly from third parties. The arrival of the A350 brings Airbus face to face in the world's airports with Boeing's 787, as a new generation of carbon-composite passenger aircraft offers big fuel savings.

But its development has coincided with a decline in the sales of large four-engine aircraft - the Boeing 747 and Airbus A380. Airbus Group Finance Director Harald Wilhelm triggered speculation over the future of the A380 earlier this month when he said it would break even up to 2018, whether Airbus decided to upgrade or "discontinue" it. Chief executive Fabrice Bregier said the A380 needed a boost in sales but ruled out cancelling it as the jet was about to break even.

"The trend is in favour of the A380 and in this context the fact that we would have in mind internally at Airbus or Airbus Group that we would stop the A380 is just crazy," Bregier said at an A350 delivery ceremony. "After all the efforts we have made - we are about to break even next year - we are about to be successful with this programme ... so we will continue." Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker, who is taking delivery of the airline's fourth A380 as well as the first A350 this week, said he was happy with its performance and had no advice to offer Airbus on whether to upgrade it. Bregier said Airbus was not only looking at whether to add new engines, but that there was potential to increase its capacity by stretching it in the "very longer term when the market requires".

(Reuters)

In 2014, we -Emirates- took delivery of 13 Airbus A380s including our 50th A380, taking our A380 fleet count to 57.

https://www.facebook.com/Emirates/p...8307244279033/636266196483133/?type=1&theater

Subsequent to the the Air Asia X announcement there is this one with Lessor company Avalon agreeing to purchase A330neo aircraft too. Avolon, the Dublin-based aircraft leasing company, has firmed up its contract for 15 Airbus A330neo aircraft. Avolon is one of the launch customers of the A330neo after signing an initial commitment in July 2014 at the Farnborough Airshow.

Airbus said on Tuesday that it would work with investigators to help find the cause of the crash of AirAsia flight QZ8501 which went missing early on Sunday between Indonesia and Singapore. Indonesia AirAsia's flight QZ8501, an Airbus A320, lost contact with air traffic control during bad weather. Wreckage and bodies have been located off the coast of Borneo. "Airbus has been informed by the Indonesian authorities that the accident site of flight QZ 8501 has been located," said the company in a statement. "With safety as its prime concern, Airbus reaffirms its full commitment to provide all necessary technical assistance to the investigation authorities in order to establish the cause of this tragic accident." The investigation is being led by the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee, with help from international agencies.

(Reuters)

Qatar Airways has been the launch customer for the A350-900 XWB, and now they will also be the launch customer for the A350-1000 XWB in 2017.

Airbus retained the top spot in commercial plane orders by confirming it outsold Boeing last year, after an unprecedented surge of over 400 orders in December. Airbus said on Tuesday that it won 1,456 net orders in 2014, down from 1,503 a year earlier but enough to pass Boeing's total of 1,432. Gross orders totalled 1,796, against 1,550 for Boeing, giving Airbus a 54 percent market share. Airbus delivered 629 aircraft in 2014, up slightly from 626 a year earlier but lagging Boeing's industry high of 723.

Airbus recently flew the MTOW version of the A330 for the first time..

An Airbus-backed, sharia-compliant aircraft leasing fund has signed its maiden deal to buy five A330-200s with an option for four more, a boost for the European plane maker in the fast-growing commercial airline market in the Gulf region. Based on list prices, the deal for the nine planes is worth approximately USD$2 billion, according to Dubai-based International Airfinance Corporation (IAFC), which manages the fund. Five of the wide-body planes have been placed on long-term operating leases with Middle East flag carriers, with plans to exercise the options in the coming months, said Idriss Ghodbane, managing partner and board member at IAFC.

"We are already in negotiations for placing more than 20 aircraft over the next few months," said Ghodbane, adding that such leases have an average life of around 10 years.
Gulf carriers such as Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways have transformed the aviation industry over the last decade through rapid expansion, while Islamic finance is a growing element to win business in the region.

Airbus has officially launched the A321neo with 97 tonnes Maximum Take Off Weight (MTOW) having secured the first commitment from Air Lease Corporation (ALC). The Los Angeles based lessor signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for 30 more A321neo, upsizing its commitments at the 2014 Farnborough Airshow from 60 to 90 and becoming the launch customer for Airbus’ increased range option.

Turkish Airlines is negotiating to acquire 10 or more Airbus A380s in a deal potentially worth USD$4 billion at list prices, two people familiar with the matter said.

ANA Holdings has ordered seven more A321 aircraft (four A321ceo with Sharklets and three A321neo), in addition to the firm order for 30 A320neo Family (seven A320neo and 23 A321neo) placed in July 2014. The latest agreement brings ANA’s total order for the A320 Family to 37 aircraft which will gradually replace its existing single aisle fleet. ANA will be the first Japanese operator of both...