Airbus suffered a setback on Wednesday when it confirmed that Emirates Airline, the fast-growing Gulf airline, had cancelled a $16bn order for 70 of the aircraft maker’s planned new A350 passenger jets.
The widebody A350 is Airbus’ competitor to Boeing’s Dreamliner and is due to enter service towards the end of this year.
The A350 is currently undergoing flight tests, and Qatar Airways is supposed to be the first airline to operate the aircraft.
Dubai-based Emirates was supposed to be another launch customer for the A350, but the decision to cancel its order follows the airline’s announcement last November to buy up to 150 widebody aircraft from Boeing. These will be a new version of Boeing’s 777 jet, dubbed the 777X.
Airbus said on Wednesday: “Airbus confirms that Emirates Airline has decided to cancel its order of 70 A350…aircraft.
“The decision follows on-going discussions with the airline in light of their fleet requirement review … Airbus and Emirates Airline benefit from a long-standing relationship and the airline recently reiterated its confidence in Airbus products.”
Rolls-Royce said: “While disappointed with this decision, we are confident that the delivery slots which start towards the end of this decade vacated by Emirates will be taken up by other airlines. Demand for the Airbus A350 remains strong, with more than 700 aircraft and 1,400 Trent XWB engines already sold.”
The company said as a result of the decision, its order book will reduce by around 3.5 pe cent or £2.6bn.
Emirates is the world’s largest operator of the Airbus A380 superjumbo, and placed an order for an additional 50 of these aircraft at the Dubai air show last November.
Emirates originally placed its A350 order in 2007, and was due to have these aircraft delivered to the airline from 2019. It agreed to buy 50 A350-900s, the mid-sized version of the aircraft, and 20 A350-1000s, the largest version.
Airbus has orders for 742 A350s in total, and said it was “very confident” in the aircraft.
“The A350 flight test campaign is progressing well,” it added. Airbus is seeking certification of the aircraft by regulators in the coming months.
Emirates’ 2007 agreement to buy 70 A350s was valued at about $16bn at catalogue prices, but it would have secured a significant discount on these aircraft as a launch customer.
The airline was not immediately available for comment.