Airbus has filled its basket with orders once again at the Farnborough International Airshow, with Peach Aviation the pick of the bunch from the low-fare carriers.
Japanese carrier Peach was confirmed on Day 2 of the show as the first Asian operator of the A321LR aircraft following the conversion of an existing order for two A320neo aircraft. The new aircraft are to join the budget carrier’s fleet in 2020 and Airbus says the long-range single-aisle platform will enable the airline to open new routes from Japan to destinations up to nine hours flying time away.
The biggest deal in terms of numbers came from an undisclosed customer who also opted for the A320neo Family, signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for 100 aircraft, made up of 25 A321neo and 75 A320neo aircraft. The agreement will add to the customer’s existing orders for the aircraft type, with engine selection to be made at a later date.
Airbus also saw a firm order from LEVEL, the low-fare long-haul airline brand from International Airline Group (IAG), for two additional A330-200s for delivery in 2019. This agreement takes LEVEL’s total order for the type to seven and comes less than 12 months after IAG purchased the last batch of three A330-200s.
Airbus’ newest addition to its portfolio, the A220-300 (the rebranded Bombardier CS300), also caused a stir after a new start-up airline confirmed a commitment for 60 of the aircraft type, with deliveries beginning in 2021.
The new airline is backed by investors led by David Neeleman, the respected founder of JetBlue, investor in TAP in Portugal and controlling shareholder in Azul airlines in Brazil.
In the wide-body market, Airbus also signed an agreement with an undisclosed customer for the purchase of eight A350-900s.
Airbus’ commercial aircraft services goals
Airbus also released its new Global Services Forecast, predicting a $4.6 trillion worldwide market for commercial aircraft services from 2018 to 2037. The analysis is based on a three-way segmentation focusing on aircraft, airline operation and passenger experience.
The forecast pinpoints aircraft-focused lifecycle services as representing the largest segment of growth, representing a cumulative value of $2.2 trillion over the 20-year period, from $76 billion in 2018 to more than $160 billion per annum by 2037.
Airbus highlighted maintenance as the largest market by value, characterised by outsourcing and ‘paid by the hour’ PBH contracts, and said it expects to see a strong trend for further outsourcing as technology and materials develop.
The forecast suggests flight operations services (such as pilot training) will account for a $1.5 trillion cumulative spend over 20 years. With fleets expected to more than double to 48,000 aircraft over this period, Airbus estimates a need for 540,000 new pilots in the next 20 years.
Airbus predict the passenger experience segment of the market will account for an estimated $0.9 trillion cumulative value over the 20-year period. This segment is expected to more than double in the next 20 years and grow from $27 billion to almost $70 billion.
After an 18% annual growth in its services revenues for the past two years, Airbus is aiming to triple its services revenues from more than $3.2 billion in 2017 to reach $10 billion of services revenues in commercial in the next decade.
To achieve this it says it will continue to develop full lifecycle integrated services for all Airbus’ aircraft operators, adding that these services will be “even more efficient through the Skywise open data platform.”
Airbus is also planning to expand its service portfolio to non-Airbus platforms, as 62% of its total fleet is operated by multi-fleet operators, adding that it will reinforce its strategic position in the value chain and cultivate digitalisation across all services.
Written by: Mark Thomas
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