/reeve.gif)
/
https://www-aerotelegraph-com.translate ... r_pto=wapp
The Airbus A319 Neo loses a third of its orders
The smallest member of the A320 Neo family had a single major order.
But customer Spirit Airlines would now rather have larger jets than the A319 Neo.
8/4/23 - 5:56 |
Airbus A319 Neo: Remains a slow seller.
Listing all customers who have ordered the
Airbus A320 Neo (4307 aircraft) or the
A321 Neo (5170 aircraft) would be very busy.
The situation is different for the smallest family member.
At the end of June 2023,
Airbus only had orders for 92 of the A319 Neo,
13 of which had already been delivered.
Nine A319 Neo will go to governments or business jet operators,
five to Air China ,
nine to China Southern ,
two to Sichuan Airlines ,
31 to Spirit Airlines,
four to Tibet Airlines and
32 to one or more unnamed customers.
So it was in the order book at the end of June 2023.
Spirit Airlines wants bigger planes
But it won't stay that way.
Because Spirit Airlines said on Thursday (August 3)
as part of their quarterly figures that they had
"changed all our A319 Neo orders to A321 Neo"
in negotiations with Airbus.
The English verb Spirit used is "upgauged" which means moving from smaller to larger aircraft.
From Airbus' July 2023 order book,
which the manufacturer published in the early morning of August 4,
the 31 A319 Neo for Spirit Airlines had already disappeared
and been replaced by 31 additional A321 Neo.
The airline already has A320 Neo and A321 Neo in service and has ordered more aircraft of both variants.
A third of A319 Neo orders gone
Airbus should be pleased that the airline now wants to have additional aircraft of this size.
For the A319 Neo model, however, it is a major setback.
The number of jets ordered is reduced by around a third from 92 to just 61, as first reported by Air Insight .
All well-known airline customers now come from Asia.
Within Airbus' product family,
the A319 Neo has had a more modern competitor of a similar size for a number of years: the A220-300.
And Airbus has already received orders for more than 700 of the larger version of the A220.
Why Airbus is sticking with the A319 Neo
In 2018, when Airbus took over the A220 - then still called the C-Series - from Bombardier,
Marketing Manager Antonio Da Costa said why the A319 Neo was still being retained:
"It is ideal in difficult conditions such as high-altitude airports or hot climates .
» Another argument for exclusive customers:
Airbus has equipped the ACJ319 business jet variant with additional tanks
and given it a long-haul range of 12,500 kilometers with eight passengers on board.