Airbus wins $68.7 bn worth of orders at Paris Air Show

 The A320 family, spearheaded by the upcoming A320neo, continues its success in the single-aisle market with 371 orders and commitments from six customers announced at the show, worth about $37.8 billion. Of these, 88 were for the A320ceo. The results show that the A320 is still the most sought-after industry workhorse, Airbus said.

A standout commitment during the show for the A320 family was the announcement by British airline EasyJet of an order for 100 A320neos plus 35 A320ceos. Another major endorsement came from Lufthansa with the firming-up of 100 more aircraft. Additional A320 orders and commitments came from Hong Kong Aviation Capital for 60; International Lease Finance Corp for 50; US low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines for 20; and Tunisia’s Syphax Airlines for three – the first A320neo commitment from Africa.

Another star at Paris was the A350 XWB, which flew for the first time last Friday and successfully completed its second flight on Wednesday. At the show this aircraft gained 69 more orders and commitments worth $21.4 billion from four customers on different continents.

Air France-KLM placed a firm order for 25 A350-900s. Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines, already a large customer for the type, returned to order 30 more A350-900s; United Airlines placed an order for 10 A350-1000s – not only bringing its total A350 orders to 35, but also upgrading its previous order for 25 A350-900s to the larger A350-1000 model to replace its Boeing 777s.

In addition, SriLankan Airlines signed a commitment for four A350-900s to complement an order for six A330-300s at the show.

At the top end of the product range, the flagship A380 received a commitment for 20 aircraft from the world’s third-largest wide-body lessor, Doric Lease Corp, in a deal worth more than $8 billion. The contract with Doric is significant as it opens up a new, additional route to market for the A380, which is now available to airlines that wish to acquire the aircraft under the flexibility of an operating lease agreement.

John Leahy, Airbus’ chief operating officer, said: "Our A350 XWB has been outselling the [Boeing] 787 by better than 2-to-1 over the last five years. In addition, our A320neo family retains a 60-per-cent market share."

In addition to aircraft-order announcements, this year’s show saw some operators take delivery of new Airbus aircraft. Most notably, LATAM Airlines Group, one of Airbus’ largest A320 customers, received its 200th A320 at Le Bourget Airport, the site of the air show. The aircraft was fitted with Sharklet fuel-saving wingtip devices – an option now proving to be universally popular on this family of aircraft. Meanwhile, Air New Zealand took delivery of its first A320 equipped with Sharklets.

In addition, VIP operator Comlux took delivery of the first Airbus ACJ321, which will make it the first corporate-jet customer to have every member of the A320 family in its fleet.

Airbus is the world’s leading commercial-aircraft manufacturer, producing airliners in every category, from the single-aisle A320 up to the world’s largest, the A380.

Airbus has design and manufacturing facilities in France, Germany, Britain and Spain, as well as subsidiaries in the United States, China, Japan and the Middle East. Headquartered in Toulouse, France, Airbus is an EADS company.

The one-week Paris Air Show ends on Sunday.