Airbus SE's newest wide-body jet lost more orders as Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. switched a contract for six A350-1000s to the smaller -900 variant and deferred delivery of five more by a year.
The model switch, announced by Asia's biggest carrier on Wednesday, follows a decision last week at United Airlines to swap an order for 35 A350-1000s to 45 -900s, a move that increased the overall value of the deal but took a large bite out of the bigger jet's backlog.
The Cathay decision narrows the order book for the 366-seat A350-1000 to 171 aircraft, based on the plane maker's latest data, while lifting the backlog for the 325-berth -900 to 679 planes. The larger jetliner is falling out of favor as carriers around the world rein in capacity expansion to ease pressure on fares, while United Chief Financial Officer Andrew Levy said the -1000 is also too close in size to the largest Boeing Co. 777 model.