How much for the Airbus baby?

摘要

The good news for Airbus is that airlines have been calling them up to discuss the A318. The bad news is that most of them have been asking to switch past orders for other A320 aircraft. But the biggest blow to the programme was JetBlue's Erj 190 order in June 2003. The New York carriers' decision to buy Airbus aircraft when it launched has been a great advertisement for A320s, but if a successful carrier like JetBlue is unconvinced of the need for commonality it does raise important questions for the manufacturer. If Bombardier launches a larger jet the 100-seater market will become even more competitive. With 83 aircraft on order, and just 12 delivered to two operators, Air France and Frontier, the type is very much a niche aircraft. However, Romanian airline Tarom's four A318 order in April, shows that some airlines believe in the model. Launched in 1999, the A318 can seat 107 passengers in a typical two-class cabin layout, and 117 in a single class at 32 inch pitch, with a range of up to 3,250 nm/6,000 km. Although the aircraft has a list price of between $41.3 million and $47.8 million, discounts have been given to launch customers. To get an idea of aircraft values, we asked five appraisers for their views on how much an A318-100 delivered in 2003 is worth.