84 Total In November & 643 Year To Date

While Airbus has managed to deliver 84 aircraft in November, the European plane maker secured only a handful of orders at the same time as more gross orders were axed during the month.

Undisclosed orders galore

In November, Airbus secured three different orders from undisclosed customers for the Airbus A321neo, A330-900, and A350-900.

One airline customer ordered ten A321neo, while another unidentified carrier purchased 15 A330-900 aircraft. On November 27, Airbus secured another five orders for the A350-900, totaling 30 gross orders during the month.

However, customers canceled 18 gross orders during the month, with cancelations in October being 19 and growing to 37 in November.

In comparison, Airbus secured 82 gross orders in October, including Drukair firming up its memorandum of understanding (MoU) from the Farnborough International Airshow in July and Riyadh Air ordering 60 A321neo aircraft at the tail end of last month.

Year-to-date (YTD), Airbus had secured 779 gross (742 net) orders as of November 30, compared to 749 gross (730 net) as of October 31. As of November 30, 2023, the plane maker had 1,512 gross and 1,395 net orders, driven by the monumental Air India and IndiGo aircraft orders.

Several fleet introductions

Still, during the month, Airbus delivered several first aircraft to customers. This includes Emirates’ first A350-900, Ethiopian Airlines and Africa’s first A350-1000, Malaysia Airlines accepting its first A330-900, and Icelandair’s first-ever Airbus, namely the A321LR.

While Icelandair welcomed its first A321LR, registered as TF-IAA, at Keflavik International Airport (KEF) on December 3, Airbus said that one of the firsts during the month was the Icelandic airline taking delivery of the aircraft.

The company’s orders and deliveries filing also showed that the actual delivery date was November 26, with SMBC Aviation Capital, an aircraft lessor, taking ownership of the A321LR on behalf of Icelandair on that day.

During the month, the manufacturer handed over one A220-100, 11 A220-300, 22 A320neo, 43 A321neo, one A330-900, four A350-900, and one A350-1000, for a total of 84 deliveries in November.

To note, Airbus delivered 21 aircraft to United States-based carriers: two A321neo to American Airlines (its first Airbus deliveries in 2024), two A220-300 to Breeze airways, one A220-300, A321neo, and A350-900 each to Delta Air Lines, one A321neo to Frontier Airlines, two A220-300 to JetBlue, two A321neo to Spirit Airlines (both via Air Lease Corporation), and nine A321neo to United Airlines.

Chasing the around 770 aircraft goal

YTD, November had been the busiest month for Airbus’ delivery teams. The second-busiest month in terms of deliveries was July, with 77, with the following month being June, with 72 aircraft deliveries. The company’s worst month in 2024 was January, when it handed over only 30 aircraft.

To achieve its “around 770” delivery goal, Airbus will have to hand over a whopping 127 aircraft in December. The yearly delivery goal was already revised in June as the manufacturer has continued facing supply chain disruptions, resulting in a shortage of engines, cabin equipment, and aerostructure parts.

In December 2023, the European company shipped 112 aircraft to its customers, which indicates that Airbus has the capability to achieve its annual delivery target.

Ch-aviation data showed that so far in December, Airbus delivered nine aircraft, with the site estimating a total of 96 deliveries during the last month of the year.