When Airbus reported 2015 results in February, the company said it planned to deliver more than 650 new commercial jets this year and to take more than that many net new orders to add to its backlog. At a meeting in France last week, Airbus executives reportedly said they expect new orders to top 700 in 2016, about 35% below the number of new orders the company added last year.
Airbus wrote 1,080 new commercial jet orders in 2015, down from 1,456 in 2014. Orders so far in 2016 have been disappointing at best. At the end of the first quarter Airbus had taken a total of just 32 new orders, against deliveries of 125 new planes. Adjusted for cancellations, net new orders in the first quarter totaled exactly 10.
That total does not include an expected order for 118 new planes from Iran Air in a deal worth $27 billion. The order, when it is finalized, is expected to include 45 A320 narrow-body jets and 73 wide-bodies (A330, A350 and A380).
Iran’s transport minister said in January that the country needs 400 medium-range and long-range planes and 100 short-haul jets over the next few years. Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) last week began discussions with Iranian officials regarding sales of the company’s planes.
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