Emirates cancels $16 billion Airbus order

Airbus suffered its biggest-ever order cancellation as Emirates scrapped a deal for A350 aircraft valued at $16 billion, hurting efforts to break Boeing's dominance in the wide-body aircraft market.

Emirates will drop 50 A350-900s and 20 larger -1000s, Airbus said today.

The deal was announced in 2007 and the planes were due for delivery from 2019, shortly before Boeing’s new 777X, for which the Dubai airline is the No. 1 customer.

The world’s largest carrier by international traffic reviewed its requirements after last year topping up orders for the A380 superjumbo, adding 50 more to become by far the largest operator.

The surprise decision on the A350 comes with the jetliner programme just months away from commercial entry.

“The A350 is a good aircraft, its’ a clean ship, it’s cutting edge, but I don’t think the delivery schedule of the A350 fits in line with Emirates’ growth capabilities at this moment,” said Mark D. Martin, chief executive officer of Dubai- based Martin Consulting.

Airbus fell as much as €2.29, or 4.3 per cent, to €51.58 .

The stock is down 7 per cent this year after almost doubling in value in 2013. Rolls-Royce Holdings, which makes the engines for the aircraft, declined as much as 3 per cent in London, where the company is based.

Bloomberg