The manufacturer’s filings showed that in January, it delivered its first aircraft, an A321neo , to China Southern Airlines on January 2.
Following that, its next deliveries only came on January 14, with an A319neo and A320neo going to West Air and easyJet , respectively.
During the month, JetBlue took delivery of two A220-300 aircraft, with the airline having previously disclosed that while it deferred A321neo deliveries to 2030 and beyond, it will focus on the A220-300 as part of its 'JetForward' strategy.
Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines also added another A220-300 to its fleet. The aircraft, registered as N330DU, was built in Mobile, Alabama, and was transferred to the carrier’s fleet on January 30.
United Airlines was the only US airline to take delivery of A320neo family aircraft. On January 28 and January 30, the carrier welcomed one A321neo aircraft each, bringing its A321neo fleet count to 31, according to ch-aviation data.
In addition to the three A220-300, two A319neo, seven A320neo, and 11 A321neo deliveries, the European plane maker handed over two A350s to its customers.
Emirates welcomed its second A350-900 following the delivery of its very first aircraft of the type in November 2024, and Japan Airlines added another A350-1000 to its operations.
Airbus indicated that in January, the plane maker added 55 gross orders to its backlog.
Following the cancelations of one A220-100 and three A320neo orders, its net order book grew by 51 aircraft during the month.
Only two airlines were disclosed out of the seven different orders. Taiwan-based STARLUX Airlines affirmed that it purchased another five A350F aircraft in January, while Lufthansa , which announced its five-strong A350-1000 aircraft order in December 2024, officially added the order to Airbus’ backlog in January.
At the time, Carsten Spohr, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Lufthansa Group , said that the new order underscored the group’s confidence in its long-standing, close, and successful partnership with Airbus.
“With the state-of-the-art A350 long-haul jets, we are accelerating the largest fleet modernization the Group has done so far.”
Nevertheless, one unidentified customer ordered one A321neo on January 2, while on January 15, another anonymous carrier purchased 25 A321neo aircraft.
In terms of widebody sales, undisclosed airlines signed agreements to buy ten A330-900 , three A350F, and six A350-900 each.
January was a significant downturn compared to December 2024, when Airbus delivered an impressive 123 aircraft during the month.
At the same time, in January 2024, the European plane maker handed over 30 aircraft, including 28 narrowbodies and two widebodies, namely a pair of A350-900.
As such, it is not surprising that as Airbus pushed to reach its revised goal of “around” 770 aircraft deliveries in 2024, all the supplies, including engines, would be used as quickly as possible, as the plane maker had looked to close the year with as many deliveries as possible.
In the end, Airbus ended 2024 with 766 deliveries, either achieving or coming up short of its delivery goal, depending on how you interpret the wording of “around” 770 aircraft.
The European plane maker initially set out to deliver 800 aircraft in 2024, revising that goal downward in June 2024.
