Unofficial 2023 order score: Airbus 1.928 and Boeing 1.292

Airbus has closed 2023 as its best year when it comes to new aircraft orders. Preliminary numbers show that the European airframer has racked up 1.928 orders, but that excludes likely cancelations during December. We count preliminary Boeing orders to 1.292. Without knowing how many undisclosed orders they received, how many cancelations, and what other adjustments have been made during December, it is difficult to establish a definitive number for 2023. So we look at what is known. Airbus For the year through November, Airbus reported 1.512 gross orders and 117 cancelations, resulting in 1.395 net orders. In December, the airframer reported firm orders for six A350Fs from Cathay Pacific, 100 A321neo’s from lessor Avolon, 150 A321neo’s and 70 A350s from Turkish Airlines, four A330-900s from Azul, 40 A220-300s from Lufthansa Group, for 157 A320neo family aircraft from easyJet, while lessor BOC Aviation ordered six A320neo family to be leased to Condor. That makes 533 firm orders in December. We haven’t included purchase rights for 125 aircraft from Turkish and 20 A321neo’s for Lufthansa that were also announced. This brings total firm orders to 1.928. Again, this could be higher if orders are included that haven’t been publicly announced, or lower when cancelations are taken into account. By comparison: Airbus reported 831 net orders in 2018, 768 in 2019, 268 in 2020, 507 in 2021, and 820 in 2022. Egypt Air signed an order for 10 Airbus A350-900s at the Dubai Airshow. (Richard Schuurman) Bumper orders this year included 500 A320neo family from IndiGo, the single-biggest order in the history of Airbus. Air India ordered 250 A320neo family and A350s, Air France-KLM 50 A350s, Viva Aerobus 90 A321neo’s, Wizz Air 75 A321neo’s, United 60 A321neo’s, SMBC 60 A320neo family, Cathay Pacific 32 A320neo family, flynas 30 A320neo’s, airBaltic 30 A220-300s, Volaris 25 A321neo’s, Avolon 20 A330-900s, Emirates and Lufthansa each 15 A350s, Icelandair 13 A321XLR, and Egypt Air 10 A350s, just to name the a few. Boeing Boeing reported 1.085 gross orders for the year through November. Including cancelations, the number was 945. But by the end of October, the US airframer moved several aircraft from its so-called ASC 606 accounting standard of uncertain status to the backlog of more certain orders. That brought net orders including cancelations, conversions, and adjustments to 1.207 through November 30. In December, Boeing reported orders for 40 MAX from lessor Avolon, 40 MAX 8s from Lufthansa Group (plus 60 options), and five 787-9s from LATAM. These 85 new orders would result in 1.292 orders for the full year, but this will likely change once cancelations and ASC 606 adjustments are included. This would make 2023 the best year in almost a decade. Boeing reported 1.432 net orders in 2014, which surpassed 1.413 in 2007. The last five years have been difficult. Boeing reported 893 net orders in 2018 but -87 in 2019 and -1.026 in 2020 after a raft of MAX cancelations following the grounding of the type. Sales recovered to 535 in 2021 and to 808 in 2022. Significant firm orders were those from Air India (main picture) for 220 MAX, 787s, and 777-9s, 39 Dreamliners each from Saudia and Riyadh Air, 21 MAX 8s for Japan Airlines, 150 MAX 10s for Ryanair plus 150 options, 108 MAX from Southwest Airlines, 80 MAX from Avolon, 50 MAX from Vietnam Airlines, 50 787s for United, 45 MAX for SunExpress, 18 787-10s from Air Canada, 30 787-9s for flydubai, and 90 777X for Emirates. Embraer Embraer said in November that it had sold 42 aircraft in the first three quarters of 2023. In November, Porter Airlines converted purchase rights for 25 E195-E2s. With no further public announcements, this would make 67 net orders for 2023. In 2022, Embraer sold 60 aircraft, in 2021 92, 22 in 2020, 69 in 2019, and 207 in 2018. ATR has received orders for 36 aircraft this year, based on the announcements made by the airframer. This is up from 26 in 2022 and on par with 35 in 2021. In 2020, ATR sold just three turboprops.

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