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PARIS (November 27): Airbus found buyers for six A320neo family jets rejected by one of its main customers, Malaysia’s AirAsia, as it works with a surplus left by the coronavirus crisis, industry sources said.
Unwanted jets have become emblematic of pandemic-induced problems in the aerospace industry that have added to a cooling in ties between two of its major players.
The tensions became unusually public when Airbus in April launched tenders for six aircraft that AirAsia had not received.
It has now found homes for the six, the last of which will be delivered this month, a European industry source told Reuters. Airbus had no comment.
Airbus has steadily increased deliveries as it makes deals with airlines to reschedule deliveries or store aircraft.
It said last month it had reduced an overhang it had failed to deliver during the crisis by 10 units to 135 aircraft. The reallocation of AirAsia’s orders is expected to further reduce the surplus, as deliveries exceed production in November.
Airbus is seeing strong demand, relative to the rest of the hit sector, for its A321neo jet, and the jet has held its overall value, the European source said. It sticks to plans to increase production of single-aisle jets.
The A321neo competes with the two larger versions of the Boeing 737 MAX, which gained approval last week to re-enter service after a 20-month grounding in the wake of two accidents.
Aircraft Values
Boeing is expected to resell dozens of 737 MAXs whose buyers canceled during the grounding, which could depress prices.
According to British consultancy IBA Group, all planes have lost some value during the COVID-19 crisis, but the A321neo is trading around 5% below its inherent value, while the MAX is 10% below , also damaged by the recent grounding.
However, doubts remain about the demand for a larger Airbus, the A330neo, whose biggest customer, AirAsia’s long-range unit Air Asia X, is looking for new funding to survive.
AirAsia said in April that it would stop receiving deliveries of all Airbus jets this year and would review the remaining orders.
The move exacerbated concerns about demand in Southeast Asia, which was already battling overcapacity before the crisis.
AirAsia’s relationships with Airbus were further clouded when it became embroiled in an Airbus bribery case before being approved by local investigators, industry sources said.
AirAsia co-founders denied wrongdoing in a sports sponsorship deal cited in a broader Airbus bribery deal with prosecutors in January. The European source said AirAsia remained an important partner for Airbus.
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