Boeing and Airbus Orders 2017 December 2017

Boeing was beating Airbus in the annual PR race for orders in 2017. By the 19th of November it had achieved net sales of 844 aircraft (after allowing for cancellations and conversions) somewhat up from the 668 for the whole of 2016. In contrast, by the end of November the Toulouse-based manufacturer had only achieved net new sales of 388 units (down from 410 a year ago). However, in the last few days of December, a handful of large orders — covering over 700 A320s — were confirmed which could have pushed Airbus’s total orders to 1,031 for the full year.

It is remarkably unusual to see 70% of the year’s orders booked in the last month of the year: but with John Leahy, Airbus sales chief, leaving in January after 23 years at the helm, it may not be that surprising that he wanted to go out on a high. 

The notable order was one from Indigo partners for 430 A320neos — Airbus’s largest single aircraft order — announced as an MoU at the Dubai Airshow and to be used among Indigo’s family of ULCC airlines: Wizz (Europe), JetSMART (Chile), Frontier (US) and Volaris (Mexico). The discount to the $50bn list price must have been substantial.