Here is a story we did last week for Flight Global Pro.
With huge orders last year for the Airbus A320neo family and this year for the Boeing 737 Max, the top customers for the Big Two OEMs continue the shift from the traditional “blue chip” airlines, but upstart low-cost carriers and Middle East airlines.
Air Asia and Indigo, two LCCs, are now the top two customers in terms of backlog for Airbus, with Qatar Airways and Emirates Airlines having the fourth and fifth largest unfilled orders. Only Qantas Airways of the legacy carriers hits the Top 5 for Airbus. After this flag carrier, the next legacy carrier—US Airways—comes in at only #14. Lessors, other LCCs and Latin America’s TAM (founded in 1961) and Lan (1929) are the top customers for Airbus.
Boeing is a slightly different story, driven by its long dominance of the US market. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines are legacy carriers that are in the Top 10. But Upstarts Lion Air and Norwegian Air Shuttle are Boeing’s first and third top customers with legacy LCC Southwest Airlines ranked second.
Aengus Kelly, CEO of AerCap, worried in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the large orders placed by the newer airlines won’t be filled, and that the orders contribute to over-production by Airbus and Boeing. He specifically identified Lion Air and Norwegian Air Shuttle as having ordered to many airplanes for their future needs. Norwegian’s recent order for Boeing 737s is reflected in the Boeing customer list but not yet reflected in the Airbus list. NAS announced an order for 100 A320neos, which would thrust it to a Top 15 position with Airbus.
Airbus Top 25 Customers-Jan. 2012 | ||
1 |
Air Asia |
277 |
2 |
Indigo |
226 |
3 |
Qantas Airways |
156 |
4 |
Qatar Airways |
147 |
5 |
Emirates |
140 |
6 |
GECAS |
136 |
7 |
ILFC |
120 |
8 |
TAM |
108 |
9 |
Spirit Airlines |
105 |
10 |
ALAFCO* |
104 |
11 |
Wizz Air |
101 |
12 |
JetBlue |
91 |
13 |
LAN |
89 |
14 |
US Airways |
88 |
15 |
CIT Aerospace |
87 |
16 |
Lufthansa |
81 |
16 |
Aviation Capital Group |
80 |
18 |
Republic Airways Holdings |
80 |
19 |
Go Air |
79 |
20 |
China Eastern |
78 |
21 |
AWAS |
72 |
22 |
United Airlines |
67 |
23 |
Hong Kong Airlines |
64 |
24 |
Virgin America |
60 |
25 |
China Southern Airlines |
58 |
25 |
Volaris |
58 |
* Includes orders firmed in February 2012 | ||
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Boeing Top 25 Customers-Jan. 2012 | |
1 |
Lion Air* |
351 |
2 |
Southwest Airlines |
350 |
3 |
Norwegian Air Shuttle* |
302 |
4 |
American Airlines |
151 |
5 |
Delta Air Lines |
118 |
6 |
ILFC |
111 |
7 |
GOL |
91 |
8 |
Air Lease Corp |
87 |
9 |
Emirates |
86 |
10 |
Continental |
81 |
11 |
GECAS |
79 |
12 |
Aviation Capital Group |
76 |
13 |
Air China |
71 |
14 |
All Nippon Airways |
66 |
15 |
China Southern |
64 |
16 |
Qantas |
63 |
16 |
Jet Airways* |
63 |
18 |
Air Berlin |
62 |
19 |
Virgin Australia |
53 |
20 |
Etihad |
52 |
21 |
Russian Technologies |
50 |
21 |
Japan Airlines* |
50 |
21 |
CIT Leasing |
50 |
24 |
Qatar |
44 |
25 |
FedEx |
42 |
* Includes orders firmed in February 2012 |
Hi Scott,
dont forget that Qantas isn’t a dyed in the wool classic with LCC Jetstar takting a good chunk of the orders
If we do a kind of comparison of customer numbers by world regions for Airbus(A) and Boeing (B):
Asia A6-B7, Australia A1-B2, Europe A3-B2, Middle-East A2-B3, Russia A0-B1, South America A2-B0, USA A6-B5 and lessors A6-B5
there is no big difference. At least from the Top 25 lists (which actually include 26 customers for Airbus :)). They do share the market.
Lan and TAM are merged, that ought to boost them up into the top 5 for Airbus.
I think the classic division between LCC and Legacy Carrier doesn’t really fit for “emerging markets”. Honestly, this whole order-thing becomes increasingly a stunt with little touch to reality. Airbus and Boeing are simply producing aircraft and will hand them to the guy able to pick them up. Given the low level of customization in a single aisle (and the limited lead time) you can shift an order 4 month in advance of delivery.