Apparently Airbus now can easily convert A320ceo orders to the A320neo, as previously Airbus overbooked the remaining A320ceo slots. At the end of July 1503 orders for the A320ceo were in the backlog (3251 for the A320neo).
I expect a few more cancellations and conversions from A320ceo to A320neo:
- Kingfisher 67 A/C
- Alphastream 15 A/C
- Sri Lankan 6 A/C
- Mexicana 4 A/C
- Croatia 4 A/C
- Hamburg Int. 2 A/C
- AirAsia 3 A/C (conversion to neo)
- Wizz 10 A/C (conversion to neo)
- Qingdao Airlines 5 A/C
- Zhejiang Loong 11 A/C
- Spring 30 A/C
- Juneyao Airlines 20 A/C
With the same calculation I did last year (42 aircraft per month and 11.5 months of production per year) I get 638 deliveries until the end of October 2015, when the A320neo should go into airline service, leaving 817 A320ceo in the backlog.
At the end of December 2016 the backlog would be down by another 464 aircraft (I just saw that I made a mistake here last year), leaving 353 A320ceo in the backlog.
Building another 194 A320ceo in 2017 leaves Airbus with 159 A320ceo family aircraft in the backlog in 2018, where production of the A320ceo should end.
The situation is (still) very much different at Boeing - although Boeing always states that the B737NG is sold out.
There are 1755 open orders for the B737NG production line at the end of July 2014. I do not expect any cancellations (but there could be coming more conversions from the NG to the MAX). There are a few announced but not yet finalised NG sales:
- Xiamen 40 A/C
- Air China 20 A/C
- Ruili 14 A/C
- Yakutia 12 A/C
- Oman Air 5 A/C
So while Airbus can now make (some) customers happy by letting them convert A320ceo's to A320neo's, Boeing has to look hard for some more B737NG customers, while Boeing did let customers convert from NG to MAX very much earlier.
UPDATE:
As I wrote this BOC Aviation ordered 30 B737NG (along with 50 B737MAX)...
Thanks for this update AeroT. I doubt that all this A320 CEO will be delivered (as well as that many B737s). the 15% difference in fuel efficiency is just huge on an airplane of this size. The next year an a half both OEM might do well with the current backlog of CEOs and NGs, but once other airlines start to realize the impact of the new A320 when placed head to head with one of its kind, something will have to give. IMHO, it will first happen to Airbus as the NEO is coming about two years earlier, but then it will move over to Boeing camp. If I was an airline receiving the current airplane from either company in tree years, I would either ask for a major discount or I will just move over to the better product.
ReplyDeleteFuel costs are certainly a big factor but that 15% may not apply to all routes. As well engine maintenance costs will increase with the neo and maxx
ReplyDeleteThe 15% fuel burn difference applies to cruise flight conditions. The SFC difference between the ceo and neo engines at takeoff is even larger, more like 30%, so on shorter routes the fuel burn advantage could be even higher.
DeleteIf that is correct (up to 30% on short trips) then is even more of a compelling choice for airlines to switch to the newer models. If I was an Airline CEO, someone would have to prove very convincingly that taking any of the A320CEO or B737NG 2 or 3 years from now will be a sound decision for my company. Of course price might have a lot to do with it, but it will have to be real good. Just imaging you flying an aircraft for 10 years while another airline is flying the same aircraft with new engines for the same 10 years and potentially a combine 20% better SFC per trip. You can sell your available seats to costumer for 15% less money and still make a little more than your competition for the same trip.
ReplyDeleteThe fuel burn difference will never be 30%. I only said that teh SFC difference at takeoff eill be in the range of 30%. And a part of that will be negated by the weight increase of the neo/Max aircraft.
DeleteLovely bloog you have here
ReplyDelete