UPS has cancelled 37 of its 50 remaining Airbus A300-600F orders, and all 50 of the options originally placed have gone. This has had a serious impact on the A300 order backlog, which will fall from 54 at the end of last year to 17 aircraft - all freighters.
With A300 production running at around one a month and just eight new orders having been placed in the last two years, this has raised questions over the future of Airbus's oldest product. However, Airbus chief commercial officer John Leahy remains bullish about the programme, pointing to the fact that Air Hong Kong increased its orders late last year: "No decision has been made [about the A300's future], and as long as people keep buying them we'll keep building them."
Source: Flight International
