Dubai’s Emirates airline has cancelled its entire order of 70 Airbus A350 aircraft, the aviation manufacturer has confirmed.
Airbus said the decision follows “on-going discussions with the airline in light of their fleet requirement review”.
The order of 50 A350-900 and 20 A350-1000 was originally placed by Emirates in 2007 with first delivery slots scheduled from 2019.
Airbus said despite the cancellation it’s “very confident” that new orders would compensate for the cancellation from Emirates.
"There's no impact on the programme as deliveries were scheduled to start at the end of the decade," a spokesman said.
Disappointing decision
British car-manufacturer Rolls-Royce, which is the sole engine maker for the A350, said the Emirates decision would result in a £2.6 billion pound hit to its order book.
"While disappointed with this decision, we are confident that the delivery slots which start towards the end of this decade vacated by Emirates will be taken up by other airlines," Rolls-Royce said in a statement.
In a statement released today Airbus said that half a year before entry into service, the A350 XWB order book “stands at a healthy 742 firm orders”.
“Interest in the game changing A350 has always been very high with customers. Airbus expects the A350 order book to continue growing in 2014.”