Airbus, Boeing Remain At Order Parity
By Robert Wall 
Airbus secured the sale of 10 A320s to Irish leasing company Aircraft Purchase Fleet late last month, enabling it to stay at rough gross order parity with rival Boeing.
Airbus Chief Operating Officer for Customers John Leahy last week told investors that at the end of the first quarter, the two rivals were basically at parity. Boeing nosed slightly ahead in terms of gross orders with 23 aircraft to Airbus’s 22, he says. Airbus has a revenue advantage, by list price, of 54% to 46%.
Airbus booked two sales last month, six A330-200s for Korean Air and the Aircraft Purchase Fleet. The orders pulled Airbus out of negative net order territory; the company was at -8 net orders at the end of February.
In terms of net orders, though, Airbus has done better than Boeing, Leahy says. While it is now in positive territory, Boeing remains with more cancellations than orders. The value of the deals represents a $1.8 billion upside for Airbus, and a loss of $3.1 billion for Boeing.
Airbus remains in negative order territory for the A318 and A319 for the year. In March, the airline also saw leasing company Aercap convert an A330-200 order into one for an A330-300.
In his regional backlog analysis, Leahy sees Boeing and Airbus in similar situations in Europe (both at 19%), Asia/Pacific (both at 21%), Africa (both at 2%), Latin America (Airbus 6% to Boeing’s 5%) and among lessors (Airbus 18% to Boeing’s 20%) and corporate jets (Airbus 3% to Boeing’s 2%). There is a growing disparity in China, where Airbus has 11% of its backlog to Boeing’s 8%. Airbus has 13% of its backlog among Middle East carriers, while Boeing only has 7% in that location, whereas Boeing has 17% of its backlog in North America, where Airbus has 8%.
Airbus delivered 116 aircraft in the first quarter, led by 51 A320s. No A380 handovers took place, with the first of the year due this month. However, a survey of A380 customers by Bloomberg says Airbus this year will hand over only 15 A380s, although Airbus officials say they are not moving away from their commitment to deliver 18 of the mega-transport.
Photo: Airbus
