Emirates Airline Cancels 70 A350 XWB Order With Airbus

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Emirates Airline Cancels 70 A350 XWB Order With Airbus

June 11, 2014 - Airbus confirms that Emirates Airline has decided to cancel its order of 70 A350 XWB aircraft. The decision follows on-going discussions with the airline in light of their fleet requirement review, as demonstrated by their order of 50 additional A380 at the last Dubai Airshow and their continuous interest in the program.

Airbus and Emirates Airline benefit from a long-standing relationship and the airline recently reiterated its confidence in Airbus products particularly by praising the A380 and the benefits the aircraft brings to their operations.

The order of 50 A350-900 and 20 A350-1000 was originally placed by Emirates Airline in 2007 with first delivery slots scheduled from 2019. However, at last years Dubai Air Show Emirates announced it had ordered 150 of Boeing's 777X aircraft. The A350 long-range jet is a competitor to Boeing's 777 and 787 Dreamliner planes.

Airbus reports they are confident in its A350 XWB program. Half a year before entry into service, the A350 XWB order book stands at a healthy 742 firm orders. The A350 flight test campaign is progressing well and is on track for Type Certification in the coming months.

Interest in the game changing A350 has always been very high with customers. Airbus expects the A350 order book to continue growing in 2014. But investors took the Emirates news poorly, as Airbus shares closing down more than 3% in Paris and jet engine maker Rolls-Royce shares fell more than 5% in London.

Edison Investment Research analyst, Sash Tusa said the move by Emirates was real blow to Airbus, "with the loss of a 70 A350 wide-body plane order coming just as rival Boeing's 777X has been launched. It gives the unavoidable conclusion that the world's largest and most influential long-haul airline sees the 777X as the wide-bodied twin of the future.”