Aer Lingus is no longer operating the Airbus A350. It has been revealed that Aer Lingus has transferred five remaining Airbus A350-900 planes to another customer. The carrier is no longer planning to add the type to its fleet. The carrier will instead use its new Airbus A321XLRs for future long-haul flights.
The order book is still not clear as the fleet continues to be re-shuffled following the COVID-19 outbreak. In 2019, Aer Lingus no longer had any of its order books with Airbus; although some carriers have already moved their orders to other airlines, others are still waiting for their orders to be processed. There have been no A350s ordered for Aer Lingus since the end of last month after checking Airbus’s orders and deliveries updates.
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Aer Lingus has reordered five Airbus A350-900s, which were previously allocated to unidentified customers. Back then, in 2008, the airline placed an order for six A350-900 planes. It later increased that order to nine. It is not yet clear why the order was changed. However, the first four of the A350-900s aircraft were transported to Iberia while others were never taking off, a sister carrier owned by IAG International Airlines Group. It was initially meant to be delivered in 2014. It had initially planned to take delivery of the planes in 2014. However, the global economic crisis forced it to delay its plans. It now has nine A350s.
With 14 Airbus A330s and eight A321NELRs, and six A321XLRs in the fleet, the Irish flagship is expected to meet the long-standing needs of the epidemic later. Currently, the carrier has thirty-one Airbus A320-200s, three A321-200s, and eleven A330-300s, three inactive A330-200s, and eleven A330-300s. IAG has a total of 18 A350 Family aircraft in its fleet, with a further six on order from Airbus. It has also ordered eight A321-200NXs.
Aer Lingus decided to postpone the A350 and then increase its order from three to nine by replacing the A330. It continued to adjust the terms of the agreement, which included taking some of the A350s as a regional version. In 2014, Airbus announced that it would develop the A330neo.
The remaining five Aer Lingus planes are still on order with IAG, and there are some exciting possibilities regarding their future. If they stay with the group, where would they go? With nine A350-900s and 11 more on the way, Iberia could be looking to expand the carrier’s plans to a long-haul hub for travel to Asia further in the future.
In the meantime, the British Airways fleet already includes eight A350-1000s, and ten are on order. The new acquisition Air Euro is a Boeing carrier, so it’s hard to imagine Airbase Jet joining its fleet.
As with all Airbus orders, the transfer of an order does not affect the company’s total order figures. In 2013 the A350 made its first flight and entered service with Qatar Airways after two years. It has received a total number of 915 orders so far. Of these, 747 belong to the A350-900 standard A350-900 and 168 to the A350-1000 spread variant; 436 planes have been supplied. Its largest operator is currently Singapore Airlines.
Meanwhile, Qatar Airways will be at the top of the A350 list soon. Gulf Carrier, whose management has praised the machine for long-range operation, has 34A 350-900 and 19A 350-1000 in its fleet, while an additional 23 of the -1000 are on order. Yet, the Doha-based carrier lately stopped taking A350 deliveries over undisclosed issues, reported by sources related to disappointment with the paint job on the jet.
