Airbus Cancellations Outweigh Orders In January

February 6, 2009

Airlines canceled more planes than they purchased from Airbus in January, leaving the European plane maker with a negative net order tally -- a predicament shared with US rival Boeing.

Airbus said it had sold four single-aisle jets to Turkish Airlines only to receive cancellations of 12 similar planes from one or more unidentified carriers in January, reducing its order book by eight aircraft.

In January 2008, Airbus won orders for 238 aircraft, boosted by a 110-plane order from China.

Aircraft demand is dropping due to a cocktail of recent high oil prices, weak traffic, overcapacity and fears of recession that have pushed airlines into their worst crisis for decades.

Sales chief John Leahy said last month Airbus would probably sell at the lower end of 300-400 planes this year in gross terms before cancellations, and predicted 2009 would be a soft year.

In 2008, Airbus logged gross orders for 900 planes and net orders for 777 planes, following cancellations for 123 aircraft.

Airbus produced and delivered 34 planes in January this year, compared with 37 a year earlier, it said on Friday.

It is the world's largest commercial jet producer ahead of Boeing, which faced the first cancellation of a major contract for its newest model, the twin-aisle 787.

Boeing had a negative net order tally of 13 planes between January 1 and February 3, its web site showed.

France and Germany are considering ways of boosting the bank financing of aircraft purchases to prevent a wave of cancellations hitting Europe's top aviation group, officials said last week.

In a deal yet to be reflected in order data, Airbus said this week it had sold two extra A380 superjumbos to Korean Air Lines, bringing sales of the 525-seat plane to 200.