Airbus Says 12 Aircraft Orders Cancelled

Airbus has rounded off the first half of the year strongly, with a mix of aircraft deliveries and orders ensuring a more positive outlook for 2H 2026.

Despite strong orders and deliveries, the month still saw a cluster of cancellations, as is typical, which meant the headline order tally was slightly trimmed.

Airbus Confirms Some Cancellations

Airbus’ June update shows that 12 aircraft were cancelled from the order backlog, as is typical each month, as lessors, airlines, and even planemakers make changes to their future backlogs due to circumstances that are not often made public.

Breaking the cancellation down means that the bulk of these came for the A320neo family, 10 of the 12, with the last two units involving the A220-300, a regional powerhouse within the industry.

The planemaker does not publicly list the customers behind the specific cancellations; however, it does provide the cancellations to differentiate the net and gross orders. The cancellations subtracted from the month’s result, resulting in net commercial aircraft orders in the first half of 2026 at 821.

This figure is more than double what was recorded in the first six months of 2025 and comes amid surging demand for new planes as airlines and lessors adjust their fleets, seek to secure valuable delivery slots, and future-proof their fleet mix.

The A320neo family, even with the bulk of cancellations during the month, remains the backbone of the planemaker’s backlog, thanks to over 20,000 total orders and more than 12,780 deliveries. A handful of monthly cancellations, therefore, does little to change the trajectory of the business.

While the order base for the A220 is smaller, cancellations to the A220-300 are still offset by strong commitments throughout 2026, led by the AirAsia deal, which included 150 and was the largest in the program’s history.

A Headline-Grabbing SAS A330neo Deal

The order side followed up on order cancellations for 12 models. While June was quieter, there were some important wins for manufacturers, with 71 gross commercial jets ordered in the month, down from the 379 booked in May.

The standout purchase came just before the close of the month, with Scandinavian carrier SAS firming up a deal for 18 A330neo widebody jets, selecting the A330-900 variant as part of a heavy commitment to its own future fleet and renewal efforts.

Part of a broader renewal focusing on the short- to long-term mix, these A330neos formed part of a 40-widebody fleet being taken up at Airbus, including additional A330-300s, the current engine model, to help bridge the gap while awaiting the neos’ delivery.

Undisclosed narrowbody orders were also headlined in June, with an unidentified customer ordering 40 Airbus A320neo family jets, split between 16 A320neos and 24 A321neos. These deals typically have their final destinations revealed in due course, but there’s no firm timeline for when that will happen.

Scoot, the low-cost division of Singapore Airlines, also exercised its decade-old options for the A320neo family, including the base model and the A321neo, to boost single-aisle flying. Air Algérie, meanwhile, committed to one of the A330-900s for long-haul flying.

Notably, the A330-800 received an order, this being a variant in the A330neo, which is widely out of favour and has, since its inception, struggled to find a market for itself. However, the catch is that the booking comes from the Airbus Defence and Space division, which is designed to be converted for use outside passenger flying.