Orders for Airbus’s A320neo family have reached five digits, almost 13 years to the day since the first airline agreement for the type was disclosed.
Airbus’s latest backlog data shows firm orders for the re-engined models have reached 10,354 aircraft.
Chief commercial officer Christian Scherer, speaking at an 11 January briefing, said this five-figure total was “more than originally anticipated”.
“We’re quite happy about that,” he says.
Airbus disclosed the first order for the A320neo, from Virgin America, in January 2011.
The A321neo has since established itself as the preferred variant, with 6,171 orders, and Scherer says these include 550 of the new long-range A321XLR – due to enter service in the second quarter of this year.
Airbus’s cumulative orders for the A320neo family exceed, by more than 2,000, the total for conventional A320-family jets.
The airframer delivered 8,100 aircraft from this earlier family between 1988 and 2021.
It has finally cut the last seven outstanding A321s from the backlog, but still officially has orders for four A320s and two A319s.
Airbus has an overall backlog of just under 8,600 aircraft across its entire range, including nearly 7,200 A320neo-family jets.
