Airbus Orders Down 34% through Oct., 119 Cancellations

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Airbus's 10-Month Orders Fall 34%, 119 Planes Dropped (Update3)

By Sabine Pirone

Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Airbus SAS's orders in the first 10 months of the year dropped 34 percent to 675 planes as declining traffic and airline bankruptcies forced cancellations on the world's largest maker of commercial aircraft.

Deliveries from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31 totaled 391 planes, Toulouse, France-based Airbus said in a statement today, compared with 1,021 plane orders and 374 deliveries the company reported a year earlier. Orders for 119 airliners were scrapped in the period, of which 71 were withdrawn in October, Airbus said.

Record oil prices, the global credit crisis and slowing economic growth have prompted a decline in air travel. About 30 carriers have failed or filed for bankruptcy protection this year, leading to order cancellations. Skybus Airlines Inc., a U.S. low-cost carrier that collapsed in April canceled an order for 65 A319s last month, Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said today in a phone interview. [Full Article]

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