US Airways Cuts Order; Airbus Announces Q1 Deliveries

It happened one Monday: US Airways, now out of Chapter 11 [congratulations!], went straight to Airbus, and knocked its order for nineteen jets down to ten.

It's not all bad news for Airbus; the new order is for ten A330-200s in 253-seat configurations; the old order was for one big boy, and 18 of the smaller A319s and 320s. Now, US Airways won't need the 120-140-seat smaller Airbuses -- at that end of its market, it's going to more regional-size jets.

Still, it's not good news. Airbus, which has recently beaten Boeing in the 'delivery' column, and has, for a longer time, bested the Chicago giant in 'orders,' later in the day revised its projected 2003 deliveries to 260, from the hoped-for 300 it had been clinging to for months.

As Airbus announced actual deliveries so far this year, the assembled throngs gasped as they realized that Boeing had shipped six more airplanes than Airbus, in the first quarter this year: 65 from Toulouse, and 71 from the Pacific Northwest and Wichita.

Boeing, with its more-modest estimate of 280, is also hoping the bottom doesn't fall out... worse.

FMI: www.airbus.com; www.boeing.com