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Asiana ditches A350-800 order for larger -900s
March 16th 2018
South Korea’s second largest carrier, Asiana Airlines, has converted an order for eight A350-800s to eight larger A350-900s. Read More »
Asiana had remained as the sole buyer of the -800; following the conversion, Airbus delisted the A350-800 variant from its orders and deliveries sheet.
In the same conversion, Asiana switched one of its ten A350-1000 orders to a -900.
After the change, the Kumho Group carrier has outstanding orders for 17 A350-900s and nine -1000s. It already operates four -900s. Asiana also has 25 A321neo on order from Airbus.
With no orders and no A350-800 prototypes undergoing testing it was easy enough for Airbus to shut down that programme. The much bigger challenge the OEM now faces is the A330-800neo. The OEM has invested significant resources into developing the -800 variant but earlier this month, Hawaiian Airlines, the only buyer for the type, cancelled its order for six A330-800neo.
