Etihad cancels 7 Airbus A350 orders Boeing and Airbus hit by canceled orders

Airbus says fast-growing Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad Airways has canceled another seven orders for its A350-1000 wide-body long-range jet.

Spokeswoman Aude Lebas said the April cancellation follows a similar decision in December not to go through with orders for six of the same jets.

Etihad still has orders for 12 of the aircraft, a rival of Boeing's 777, according to Airbus' website.

A spokesperson for Etihad says on Monday that a recent delay in the A350 program, while not the direct cause of the new cancellation, "provided an appropriate opportunity for Etihad to revisit its projected fleet mix in the latter part of the decade."



The spokesperson says the airline has "a great deal of confidence" in the A350 program.

Boeing and Airbus hit by canceled orders

Boeing and Airbus suffered major order cancellations last month, with airlines dropping 25 787 Dreamliners and seven A350s, according to data released by the aircraft manufacturers on Monday.

With 25 cancellations of 787 Dreamliners by clients not named, against 19 orders so far this year, Boeing is in negative territory for its flagship aircraft built largely with composite materials that it says will use 20 percent less fuel than similarly sized aircraft.

At $193.5 million (148.3 million euros) apiece according to list prices, the cancellations are a ê4.8 billion hit on the US manufacturer's order book.

Boeing did not comment on the latest order figures.

For its European counterpart, the cancellation of seven A350-1000 aircraft by Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways represents a loss of $2.2 billion at catalogue prices.

The Emirati airline canceled six other A350-1000 aircraft at the end of last year. Airbus said the airline was going through with 12 of the 25 planes it ordered in 2008.

Airbus also declined to comment on the order figures for the A350-1000, a new aircraft it began assembling last month which also includes many composite materials.

The first A350s are due to be delivered in 2014.

Boeing retained a large advance over Airbus in terms of orders received this year. Boeing's orders stood at 415 on May 1 against 95 for Airbus on April 31.