Just entering the second half of 2022, Airbus has received a super large order, including 292 Airbus A320neo passenger aircraft purchased by four airlines, including the three major state-owned airlines of China, Southeast Asia and South China.
Air China announced that it spent US$12.213 billion to purchase 96 A320neo aircraft. Among them, 64 are Air China and 32 are Shenzhen Airlines . China Eastern Airlines announcement shows that they will spend US$12.796 billion to purchase 100 A320neo. China Southern Airlines spent US$12.248 billion to buy 96 Airbus A320neo.
With the order for 292 passenger aircraft falling to Airbus, Airbus also won the "highest sales war" in China, while Boeing became the biggest loser - the 737MAX is still grounded in the Chinese market. Sales are out of the question.
's nearly 300 aircraft orders have also allowed Airbus to set a new sales record in 2022. You must know that Airbus has only received a total of 507 net orders in 2021. This is really the rhythm of not opening for three years and eating for three years after opening. These passenger aircraft will basically be delivered one after another from 2023 to 2027, and the next pressure will be transferred to the Airbus Tianjin factory.
Airbus won a huge order in China, which also dealt a major blow to its competitor Boeing. In addition to the orders from these four airlines, Airbus will provide an additional 19 aircraft through lease agreements.
Among them, China Southern will receive 30 aircraft in 2024, 40 aircraft in 2025, 19 aircraft in 2026, and 7 aircraft in 2027. They also operate and lease 19 A320neo aircraft.
Airbus can’t hide its joy at this super order. Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer and Head of International Business, said: “These new orders demonstrate the strong confidence of our customers in Airbus. This is also Our Chinese aviation customers commend Xu Gang (CEO of Airbus China) and the entire aviation industry for their recognition of the performance, quality, fuel efficiency and sustainability of the family of world-leading single-aisle aircraft. "Excellent work by the passenger China team and the customer team. They have completed long and extensive discussions during the difficult epidemic period."
In recent months, Boeing and Airbus have been trying to win such large orders from Chinese airlines. Chinese airlines are now facing double challenges, including the growing demand in the aviation market in recent years, and the need to update older aircraft models.
China once climbed to the world's largest civil aviation market, and its importance to Airbus and Boeing is self-evident. Due to various reasons, Boeing has not sold a passenger aircraft in China for a long time. Stimulated by the news, Airbus shares rose 4%, while Boeing shares fell 1.3%. The capital market has the most sensitive sense of smell.
Taking into account the scale of the backlog of orders from Boeing and Airbus. Although our country still has more or less epidemic control policies, we cannot ignore the long-term growth trend of the Chinese aviation market. This order is also the first major order for Chinese airlines after the epidemic.
China Southern Airlines' order is the icing on the cake for Airbus. China Southern Airlines has always been Boeing's largest Chinese customer. Moreover, when China Southern Airlines decided to remove more than 100 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, it also paved the way for Airbus’ victory.
The latest data shows that as of the end of 2021, of the 880 aircraft owned by China Southern Airlines Holdings, 399 are Boeing 737 and 334 Airbus A320s. Some time ago, China Southern Airlines began to restart the test flight of the 737MAX, which once caused the outside world to speculate on the return of the 737MAX in the Chinese aviation market.
Amid the 737MAX grounding controversy, Airbus took the lead in new orders and market share for global narrow-body passenger aircraft. For Airbus, supply chain and production capacity are crucial.
Last month, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said that delays in new engines prevented Airbus from delivering newly built passenger planes.
Airbus is also continuously expanding production capacity in order to meet the growing backlog of orders. They hope to increase A320 production to 75 aircraft per month in 2025. This will also continue to increase its lead over Boeing. In 2021, Boeing received orders for 497 aircraft.
