Airbus Booked 1,419 Orders In 2011 | AVIATION WEEK

Airbus Booked 1,419 Orders In 2011 | AVIATION WEEK

Airbus closed out its 2011 record year with $588 billion commercial airline orders in its backlog (or 4,437 aircraft), after booking 1,419 net orders.

The order intake includes 1,226 firm A320NEOs, not including the deal for 130 aircraft with American Airlines which Airbus previously listed as firm. Other deals were for 19 A380s and 52 widebodies.

Airbus also booked a number of cancellations, its gross order level reached 1,608 aircraft, including a International Lease Finance Corp. cancellation of 10 A380s and Etihad Airways’ decision to cancel six A350-1000. The gross order level was an industry record, Airbus COO for customers, John Leahy notes.

Boeing booked 805 net orders with 921 net orders. In revenue, Airbus had 56% of market share. Leahy concedes the market share could drop below 50% this year.

Airbus also had a record year in deliveries, with 534 units, with a target of around 570 in 2012. Another 30 military aircraft are to be delivered

For order intake, Airbus CEO Tom Enders expects around 600-650 gross orders for 2012.

“The ramp-up is a major point for 2012,” Enders says, with the company working on getting to production rates of 42 narrowbodies a month, ten A330s and three A380s this year. Final assembly for the A350 should start in March, initially on a static test specimen before the first flight aircraft will be built.

Leahy also notes that A330s may receive winglets to keep that product alive, even as the A350 nears its planned in-service date in 2014.

One of the big questions remains over financing for new aircraft. But Leahy notes deliveries for the first half of the year are largely secured. Money is “tighter” than 2011, he says, but adds “we believe we will get through.”