Emirates Airline has cancelled an order for 70 of Airbus’s A350 wide-bodied aircraft, the plane maker announces.
Airbus said the cancellation had followed “ongoing discussions with the airline in light of their fleet requirement review”.
In 2007, Dubai’s Emirates Airline placed 50 orders for the A350-900 and 20 for the A350-1000, with deliveries due from 2019.
A spokesperson for Emirates said the airline was “reviewing our fleet requirements”.
Emirates Airline has cancelled an order for 70 of Airbus’s A350 wide-bodied aircraft
Airbus said it was confident that new orders “in the coming months” would compensate for the Emirates cancellation.
“There’s no impact on the program as deliveries were scheduled to start at the end of the decade,” a spokesman said.
In a statement, Airbus said it was “very confident” in its A350 XWB program, adding that it had 742 firm orders and it expected the order book to continue growing in 2014.
“Interest in the game-changing A350 has always been very high with customers,” it said.
Airbus added that Emirates had recently “reiterated its confidence in Airbus products, particularly by praising the A380”.
Emirates Airline ordered an extra 50 A380 superjumbo planes at the last Dubai Airshow.
However, investors took the news of the cancelled A350s badly, with Airbus shares closing down more than 3% in Paris. Rolls-Royce shares fell more than 5% in London.
The A350 long-range jet is a competitor to Boeing’s 777 and 787 Dreamliner planes. The design of the A350 was changed in 2006.
Emirates announced it had ordered 150 of Boeing’s 777X planes at the Dubai Air Show last year.
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Airbus has announced its first deal with Japanese carrier Japan Airlines (JAL).
The aircraft manufacturing giant has won an order from JAL for 31 of its A350 planes, in a deal worth nearly $9.5 billion at list prices.
The A350 is designed to be more fuel-efficient and is a direct competitor to rival Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, which has been hit by safety and technical issues in recent months.
The deal is a blow for Boeing, which has dominated Japan’s aviation market.
“This is Airbus’ largest order for the A350 so far this year and is the largest ever order we have received from a Japanese airline,” said Fabrice Bregier, chief executive of Airbus.
“I must say that achieving this breakthrough order and entering a traditional competitor market was one of my personal goals.”
Airbus has won an order from JAL for 31 of its A350 planes, in a deal worth nearly $9.5 billion at list prices
According to the deal, JAL also has an option to purchase an additional 25 planes.
In recent years, the aviation industry has been hurt by a slowdown in demand and high volatility in global fuel prices.
That has seen many leading carriers turn to more fuel-efficient aircraft in an attempt to cut down costs and maintain profitability.
Both Airbus and Boeing have seen a surge in demand for such planes.
Airbus, which says the A350 will use about 25% less fuel than previous generation wide-bodied aircraft, has had 725 orders for the plane prior to securing the JAL deal.
The company hopes to start delivering the first A350s to customers by the end of 2014.
Yoshiharu Ueki, president of Japan Airlines, said the new planes would offer “high level of operational efficiency and product competitiveness” and help the airline to cater to “new business opportunities after slots at airports in Tokyo are increased”.
Meanwhile, Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner continues to remain popular despite this year’s temporary worldwide grounding of the aircraft while safety regulators investigated the cause of fires. Boeing has received orders for more than 950 Dreamliner jets so far.
Japanese carriers, JAL and All Nippon Airways (ANA), are two of the biggest operators of the Dreamliner jets.
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Airbus A350, the newest aircraft from the European planemaker, has taken off on its maiden test flight.
The Airbus A350 is designed to be more fuel-efficient, and a direct competitor to US rival Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.
It is seen as vital to the future of Airbus, which competes with Boeing to supply the majority of the world’s airlines with new planes.
It took off from Blagnac airstrip in the French city of Toulouse, where the A350 is assembled, on Friday morning.
The plane will take a short four-hour trip to carry out tests, and then land back at Toulouse.
Boeing’s Dreamliner has proved popular since its first flight in 2009, despite recently being grounded by regulators over safety fears relating to its batteries.
Airlines are being squeezed by high fuel costs and falling passenger numbers, and are looking for more fuel-efficient aircraft.
Airbus A350, the newest aircraft from the European planemaker, has taken off on its maiden test flight
Airbus claims the A350, powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, will use about 25% less fuel than previous generation wide-bodied aircraft.
Like the Dreamliner, the A350 is made largely of advanced materials, particularly carbon composites, in order to save weight.
Airbus has already taken more than 600 orders for the new plane, whereas there have been 890 Dreamliner orders so far.
The company hopes to start delivering the first A350s to customers by the end of 2014.
Analysts say a successful test flight would be a major milestone for Airbus in the A350 project, with major aircraft manufacturing projects frequently beset by delays.
“All recent programmes before it, both by Airbus, Boeing and others, have had reasonably horrendous technical problems and delays,” said Nick Cunningham, an aviation analyst at the London-based Agency Partners, speaking to French agency AFP.
“So every time you hit a milestone [such as a test flight], it’s good news because it means that you’ve missed an opportunity to have another big delay.”
The wings of A350 were designed at an Airbus facility in Filton near Bristol, and are manufactured at Broughton in Wales.
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