Airbus Orders Lag Boeing In Jan-July

Airbus won 408 gross plane orders in the first seven months of the year, lagging Boeing with 426 aircraft sales.

Excluding cancellations for 24 A320, 10 A321 and seven A350-900 jets, Airbus had 367 net orders in the period to July 31. This compared with a total of 380 for Boeing in the period ended July 28.

Last month brought 26 new orders for Airbus, including 25 A321neos for an undisclosed customer.

Airbus delivered 353 planes in January to July, including 15 A380s.

Airbus Group said the A380 is still on track to break even by the end of this year despite forecasting it would deliver fewer than the 30 aircraft it had planned.

The company is deliberating whether to upgrade the A380 with new engines, but has said it was confident of securing sales of the existing model this year.

Airbus has forecast total deliveries should be slightly higher this year than the 629 achieved in 2014.

Earlier, IAG said it had firmed up orders for eight A350-900 and three A330-200 long-haul aircraft for Iberia. It also signed firm orders for 20 A320neos for which it had options.