Emirates Cancels Major 0rder From Airbus

PARIS — Airbus suffered a major blow to its latest commercial jet program on Wednesday after one of its largest customers, Emirates Airlines, said it had decided to cancel a multibillion-dollar order for 70 long-range planes, valued at more than $21 billion at current list prices.

The news comes just months before the new jet, the A350-XWB, is due to enter service, prompting some analysts to wonder whether the decision by Emirates could presage a slowdown in aircraft orders from Persian Gulf carriers.

Those airlines have been among the most voracious buyers in recent years of wide-body planes from both Airbus and Boeing.

In a statement, Airbus said that Emirates would not take the planes — 50 of a 300-seat model, the A350-900, and 20 of the larger A350-1000 jets — which had been slated for delivery beginning in 2019.

The Emirates order was valued at roughly $16 billion when it was placed in 2007; at current list prices, it would be worth more than $21 billion.

The reasons for the decision by Emirates were not immediately clear.

"The contract which we signed in 2007 for 70 A350 aircraft has lapsed," a spokeswoman for the airline said. "We are reviewing our fleet requirements."

The A350, a twin-engine wide-body jet, is Airbus's first all-new plane in more than six years. Designed to compete directly with Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, as well as with the Boeing 777, it is also the first by Airbus to have more than half its structural components made from lightweight, plastic-based composite materials, rather than from aluminum.

Until now, development and testing of the A350 has been progressing more or less on schedule, with none of the major production problems that faced either Airbus's twin-deck A380 superjumbo or Boeing's Dreamliner, both of which entered service around three years late.

The Emirates order was the second-largest in Airbus's A350 order book, behind Qatar Airways with 80 aircraft and alongside Singapore Airlines with 70. It represented about 9 percent of Airbus's total outstanding orders for the new plane.

The order cancellation could also have significant implications for Rolls-Royce of Britain, which is the sole supplier of engines for the A350 series.

Shares of Airbus Group, the parent company of the plane maker, fell by about 4 percent in early European trading on Wednesday, while Rolls-Royce shares were nearly 2 percent lower in London.

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