Zest Air Orders Airbus 320

Airbus booked two orders from ILFC and Asiawide in May
Paris - Philippine carrier Zest Airways has booked an order for one brand new plane with option for another one from Toulouse based aircraft manufacturer Airbus S.A.S. in an announcement made earlier this week.

This put Airbus net order total for 2009 at just 11 aircraft following another dismal month for sales. The European company just booked two orders for the month of May and delivered 483 out of 777 orders (worth US$100 billion), including 12 A-380 in 2008.

Asiawide Airways is the holding firm of low cost carrier Zest Airways in the Philippines which is controlled by Alfredo Yao of AMY Holdings. The airline is registered with the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission with Authorized Capital Stock of 11 million US dollars.

The airline was operating as Asian Spirit before it was sold to Asiawide for 22 million US dollars and renamed Zest Airways. The company recently marked up six additional orders for chinese build MA-60 aircraft of Xi'an Aircraft Company, a subsidiary of State-owned AVIC I of China. It currently operates 5 MA-60 and 2 Airbus 320-200. The A320 order is scheduled for delivery by the first week of July while the option if exercised will be delivered at the middle of next year.

Airbus said Friday that it is on track to reach a tough delivery target set for this year, despite a decline in new orders last month to just two planes from Asiawide and International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), down from eight orders in April and 16 in March.

"We are facing a challenging market environment," Stefan Schaffrath, spokesman for European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co. (EADS)

"The focus this year is not on gaining new orders, but getting new aircraft delivered to our customers," Schaffrath said.

Airbus has targeted 480 aircraft deliveries for 2009, a level that would equal the record-high total made last year. But analysts have questioned whether the company can meet that goal. On Friday, Airbus said it delivered 205 aircraft to customers in the first five months of this year, 43 of which were in May.

"We are on track to reach the 480-plane target for this year," the spokesman said, adding that the company had an order backlog of 3,521 aircraft at the end of last month, representing six years of production.

Airbus is an EADS Company.

Airbus Press Department

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