Order for 15 A350s gives Airbus long-haul figures a lift

Airbus's long-haul sales showed signs of revival in May as the airframer recorded an order for 15 A350-900s.

The agreement, assigned to an undisclosed customer, is the first order for the A350 for nine months – the last being United Airlines' deal for 10 signed in September 2017.

Airbus's latest backlog figures show that 679 A350-900s have been ordered.

The new A350 deal also takes to 17 the gross number of long-haul twinjets ordered from Airbus so far this year, alongside an SAS A330-300 and a single A330-200 for the military tanker programme.

Airbus's long-haul programmes – including the A380 – crept into positive order figures, as a result, with a net total of three aircraft for the first five months of this year.

Lufthansa accounted for the only single-aisle orders during May, after agreeing to take six A320neos and three A320s.

These took the net total of A320-family orders to 108 this year.

Airbus has also delivered 223 aircraft overall, some 8% down on the 242 reached at the same stage last year.

 FLIGHT DASHBOARD BY: DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON