Any good news in the aviation industry in this horrible year for the airlines feels like a breath of fresh air. Although just a small breath of fresh air, it’s still better than nothing and it comes from the Asia-Pacific region. More in detail it has to do with aircraft delivery figures.
May Show a Slight Pick Up in Deliveries
6 aircrafts were delivered to airlines in the Asia-Pacific region throught the month of May. This show a slight pick up in the delivery activity compared to the previous month. We’ll have to wait and see how the worldwide situation progresses in June and take a look at the delivery figures at the end of the month to truly understand if there is somewhat of a positive trend.
This pick up of deliveries in the Asia-Pacific area helped the worldwide deliveries figures improve. Infact the overall number of deliveries was 17, a slight improvement compared to the 13 we saw in April. However we are still miles away from where these numbers used to be just a year ago.
In May 2019 the global number of aircraft deliveries was at the 120 unit mark. The 17 delivered this year are only a fration of that and there is still much work to be done.
To Whom and What Was Delivered
Although there were 6 deliveries, they took place in only 2 countries: China and India. Specifically 5 airliners were delivered to Chinese carriers and one to an indian carrier. Only one of these 6 planes was a wide bodied aircraft. Here’s the breakdown:
China
- China Southern took delivery of a Boeing 777-300ER and an Airbus A320neo
- Loong Air took delivery of 1 Aibrus A320neo
- Tibet Airlines took delivery of an A319ceo
- Genghis Khan Airlines took delivery of a Comac ARJ21 (Chinese manufactured aircraft)
India
The only other aircraft delivered outside of China was to the Indian low cost carrier IndiGo. The low cost carrier too a single A321neo.
Will Borders Opening Help Aviation?
Many countries which had undergone some sort of lockdown are finally alleviating these measures. Many countries particularly in Europe are coming out of these restrictive measures and are slowly opening their borders. This should help airline passenger numbers start picking up again.
It is likely that numbers we will see more planes in the skies over the next months. However to go back to what we were used to we will most definitely have to wait for a vaccine to be released.
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