Etihad cancellation puts A350-1000 programme at risk says analyst

Etihad now has just 12 orders for the A350-1000 aircraft, down from 25 for the  according to the Airbus' Excel spreadsheet.

Industry analyst Saj Ahmad said: "Airbus should be very worried by these new cancellations for the A350-1000. It's been a while since it snared any orders and with Etihad now cancelling over half of its original 25 orders for the type, it seems inevitable that they will ditch these orders too. Etihad has been working with Boeing and other airlines to define the 777X family and with just 62 orders for the entire A350-1000 family, there is little Etihad can gain from just have 12 units, especially when it upped orders for the 787-9m for which it will become the biggest single operator of that type.”

There was criticism of Airbus by the Gulf carriers when the dallied over the design and then went back with a redesign and production delay. Ahmad says Airbus will be extremely concerned about the view that Emirates and Qatar Airways will be taking.

“Emirates has been known for a while that it is not happy at all with the way the A350-1000 is shaping up and is also poised to cancel or convert these orders should Airbus fail to implement the design changes they are demanding,” Ahmad said.

 “As it stands, the A350-1000 is at a very high risk of being dropped altogether by the only four customers it has - this is something Airbus will be desperate to avoid, especially as the 777-300ER continues to rack up orders. But frankly, it's out of Airbus' hands and they know it."

Airbus figures show it took 12 new orders in April, bringing its total for the year to 112. Adjusted for cancellations, net orders for the year to date stands at 95 passenger jets, up 5 from the end of March.

The company delivered 183 aircraft in the January-April period, including five A380s.