Airbus sold just one plane in September, halting order gains

Airbus SE reported just one plane order in September, while managing to keep up deliveries as strains on transport links tested the global supply chain. 

The sale of a single A319neo to an unidentified buyer interrupts momentum established in August, when Airbus posted its best month for sales since the start of the pandemic. There were no cancellations in September, according to order and deliveries figures published Monday. 

A deal to sell 28 jets to Italy’s new state-backed airline Italia Trasporto Aereo SpA, announced at the end of last month, wasn’t included in the sales statistics because it’s an outline agreement that hasn’t been finalized. 

The European manufacturer delivered 40 jets in September, keeping alive a goal of 600 handovers by year-end. 

Only 30, however, involved the workhorse A320 family of narrow-bodies, below a build rate of 40 per month, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst George Ferguson wrote in a research note. 

The shortfall is “portending a weaker winter as the global airline recovery slows in 4Q and 1Q,” Ferguson said. “Airlines appeared more willing to take deliveries in front of the summer bounce and have turned cautious after business demand returned more slowly than had been expected.” 

• Airbus has 176 deliveries left to reach its 2021 target, roughly in line with the number of jets handed over in the second quarter
• Planes were delivered to customers including India’s Indigo airline and budget carrier Wizz Air Holdings Plc during September
• Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury recently reaffirmed the company’s plan to boost narrowbody output to 64 per month in 2023 from 40, while acknowledging challenges with labor and materials