Airbus ACJ wins new sale, takes orders for the year to 14

Airbus' corporate jetliner (ACJ) has won a new order, from an undisclosed European customer, taking sales of the company's executive and private aircraft in 2006 to a record 14 firm orders. The family has also won additional commitments.

The sales comprise nine ACJs, four A318 Elites and a VIP A330-200. They include two ACJs for the government of the Czech Republic, an A318 and an ACJ for JETALLIANCE of Austria, an ACJ for the Stumpf Group of Austria, two A318s for National Aviation Services (NAS) of Saudi Arabia and undisclosed orders.

The latest deal means that Airbus has now booked almost as many sales of corporate jets this year as it did in the whole of 2005, when it achieved 15 sales.

Total Airbus' ACJ Family sales now stand at around 80, highlighting their role as the preferred choice of companies, governments and individuals, which like its spacious cabin - the widest in its class - modern design, robust reliability and solid support.

Airbus corporate jet sales success echoes that of the A320 Family, from which they are derived, which won an amazing 913 sales in 2005 - almost twice as many as their direct competitor.

Airbus delivered a total of five corporate jets in the first half of 2006, including the first for a US-based customer, Pharmair of Florida, and the first for an Indian customer, the UB Group - parent company of Kingfisher Airlines. Both aircraft are currently being outfitted by Associated Air Center of Texas - one of four Airbus-approved outfitters.

Airbus' ACJ Family comprises, in order of increasing size, the A318 Elite, ACJ and A320 Prestige. All of the aircraft share the same wide cabin - the widest of any business jet - delivering twice the cabin-width and three-times the volume of traditional top-of-the-line business jets.

The Airbus ACJ Family also shares the same modern design, giving customers a common cockpit, today’s industry standard in fly-by-wire controls, cost-saving centralised maintenance, fuel saving aerodynamics that includes wingtip devices, and extensive use of weight saving carbonfibre composite structure.

Airbus' ACJ Family is also unique in offering a combination of features such as category 3B autoland, public transport certification for more than 20 fare-paying passengers, carbon-brakes, outward-opening cargo doors, and a choice of engines and auxiliary power units.

Its reliability is also legendary, with the last 250 aircraft achieving a 99.6 per cent operational reliability in airline service.

Total sales of the Airbus A320 Family stand at more than 4,300, more than 2,700 of which have been delivered. The family has more than 200 customers and operators.

Airbus is an EADS joint company with BAE Systems.

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