The cancellation of 25 Embraer ERJ-145s by China's Hainan Airlines has caused a serious dent in the sales fortunes of the western regional manufacturers for the first half of 2009. First half net sales were down 60% on the same period in 2008.
ATR, Bombardier and Embraer accumulated just 65 net orders in the first six months of 2009, compared with 160 the year before (Bombardier data is for its fiscal year - 31 January 31 July). And the true scale of the sales collapse this year is disguised by the fact that 2009 figure includes the first 50 launch orders for Bombardier's CSeries small mainline jet. Without that boost, the net total would be just 15 aircraft - and jet sales would be in deficit.
The problem for the manufacturers this year has been two fold. Not only are new orders few and far between, but there is also the issue of order cancellations resulting from airline cutbacks or failures. Embraer faired worse in this regard with China's Hainan Airlines cancelling 25 of its 50 ERJ-145 orders. This reduces the backlog for the ERJ-145 - which is now only assembled at the Chinese production line in Harbin - to just 12 aircraft (all of which are for Hainan).
ATR secured 28 new orders in the first six months, but nine existing contracts were terminated dropping its net order total to 19 aircraft. Turboprop sales at rival Bombardier were slightly lower, at 15 net orders.
Overall, deliveries in the first half were down 5% on 2008, falling from 154 aircraft to 147. However within that jet shipments declined 10% - from 108 to 97 - while turboprop deliveries rose by a similar proportion from 46 to 50.
The total backlog has fallen by 10% since the end of 2008, to 779 aircraft. Embraer remains the overall market leader with a 44% share, while ATR is the dominant turboprop player, with over 60% of the ATR/Q Series backlog.
Source: Flight Daily News
