Story ID: 
Airbus First ACJ319 Elegance Orders 'In Pipeline'
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: Airbus booked four orders for ACJ320 family in 2014, about on par with total VIP/ACJ sales in 2013.
Word Count: 238
Airbus Corporate Jets is optimistic that the company has “some deals in the pipeline,” but has not yet secured the first order for its ACJ319 Elegance that the company rolled out during ABACE 2014 in April in Shanghai. Airbus is hoping that the modular cabin concept for the ACJ319 will attract new interest in its narrow-body offering by simplifying choices and expediting the time of completions.

Overall, Airbus booked four orders for its ACJ320 family last year. A spokesman told AIN that the company also placed some other aircraft during the year, including a pre-owned A340 with a private customer. That aircraft had previously been in airline operation.

The order book, however, lost its only VVIP A380 sale, when Airbus in late 2014 officially wrote off the order placed in 2007 by Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Alsaud.

The overall sales appear on par with Airbus Corporate Jets' totals in 2013, and the three deliveries reported by GAMA through the first three quarters had matched those in the same period in 2013. But the total sales still are lagging rival Boeing Business Jets, which reported late last year that sales had extended into double digits for the first time since 2008, reaching 13 by mid-December. Boeing delivered four BBJs and three VIP 787-8s in first three quarters last year, according to GAMA reports. GAMA will detail full-year 2014 deliveries on February 11.