With the final days of the year, Airbus has inked what could possibly be one of the last orders of 2019. Cebu Pacific Air, a Philippine low-cost carrier, confirmed that it will order 15 Airbus A320neo family aircraft: five A320 and 10 A321XLR aircraft. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) dates back to June 2019, when the manufacturer and the airline first shook hands at the Paris Air Show.
With the latest order from Cebu Pacific Air, Airbus is closing in on 1000 net orders. As of November 30, 2019, the planemaker had 940 new reservations for aircraft this year. Christian Scherer, the manufacturer’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), noted that perhaps Airbus will “reach another symbolic milestone this year,” while speaking with reporters on December 18, 2019.
In December 2019, Airbus announced several new pieces of business, including Air France-KLM signing up for 60 Airbus A220 jets, and United Airlines’ picking out the successor of the Boeing 757 – the A321XLR.
The planemaker is set to break its 2018 numbers, as last year, the company finished with 811 net orders, including cancelations. However, setbacks on the A321 production have negatively impacted the manufacturer’s delivery numbers – as of November 30, 2019, airlines accepted 725 deliveries. The company targets to finish 2019 with a total of 860 aircraft shipments to customers. Airbus finished 2018 with 800 deliveries.
In November 2019, Cebu Pacific Air finalized the MoU for 16 Airbus A330-900 aircraft.