Earlier this month, Airbus released its official figures for 2019. In total, 642 A320 family aircraft were delivered to customers. 551 of these aircraft were specifically A320neo family. This includes the A321neo as well. The production ramp-up has been incredibly impressive as 2018 saw just 386 A320neo family aircraft delivered. This is an increase of 43% year-over-year.
“I am happy to see our commercial aircraft order and delivery numbers reflecting the continuous efforts to better serve our customers and bring our competitive products and services to the market…I sincerely thank our customers for their loyalty and the Airbus teams and our industry partners who made it possible.” -Guillaume Faury, Airbus Chief Executive Officer
Airlines celebrate “first deliveries” in 2019
The Airbus marketing team and its executives were kept busy in 2019 as airlines around the world held delivery ceremonies for their first A320neos. Here are just a few of the airlines that welcomed the new aircraft type:
- In August, Africa’s first Airbus A320neo was delivered to Air Seychelles.
- Kazakh airline Air Astana held a ceremony of its own to introduce its gorgeous new A321LR. The ceremony was held at Astana’s technical center in Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport (Kazakhstan) in October.
- At a delivery ceremony in Hamburg (Germany) in November, budget airline Air Asia took delivery of its very first Airbus A321neo.
- Faroe Islands-based carrier, Atlantic Airways celebrated the delivery of its first A320neo in July.
- Chile’s ultra-low-cost carrier, JetSMART, took delivery of its first Airbus A320neo aircraft. The ceremony took place last October in Santiago (Chile).
- Russian carrier Ural Airlines took delivery of its first Airbus A321neo aircraft in November.
In fact, many other airlines took their first A320neo in 2019. These include:
However, “first deliveries” weren’t the only type of delivery celebrated. In fact, the company delivered its 1,000th aircraft in the A320neo family in October. The aircraft went to Indian budget carrier, IndiGo.
Momentum to continue
The manufacturer increased the official A320 production rate to 60 aircraft per month during 2019. But the company isn’t stopping there. In fact, Airbus is targeting an additional raise to 63 jets per month from 2021.
Airbus is also looking at a further ramp-up with its supply chain as it considers increasing the rate by one or two in 2022 and the same in 2023. This could raise the A320 production rate to as high as 67 aircraft per month by 2023. This would be the equivalent of 804 jets per year.
Conclusion
Skies are looking blue for Airbus. Its order backlog in fact stretches through to 2025. We anticipate that the XLR’s eventual entry into service will produce even more demand as that new aircraft proves itself.
Do you think Boeing has any chance of catching up with its archrival? Let us know in the comments!
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