The move by aircraft leasing company Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) to cancel orders for 50 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing worth an estimated US$8 billion has its upside, analysts say.
“Airbus and Boeing will no doubt be pleased that they themselves will not be forcing a customer to hold on to orders that end up being delivered and parked with nowhere to go,” said a Gerson Lehrmann Group analyst.
“Losing some orders and swapping others with more stable carriers like Emirates is a far more digestible plan of action in contrast to constant deferrals purely to play the numbers game with one’s backlog,†the analyst added.
Emirates recently committed to another US$25bn worth of aircraft including 30 Boeing 777-300ERs, and 32 Airbus A380 superjumbos.
Saj Ahmad, an aerospace analyst based in London, told The National newspaper in Abu Dhabi, “It’s highly likely the recent A380 and 777-300ER orders from Emirates are in part a substitute for DAE’s cancellations.
“Emirates is too important a customer for Airbus or Boeing to ignore and they will have worked hard to minimise the cancellations but give Emirates aeroplanes that they want. 


“Cancellation fees are usually confidential but it is clear that losing 50 orders out of 200 will have been mitigated by trading over deposits to Emirates’ A380 and 777-300ER orders,†said Ahmad.
