There were more aircraft and engine backlog records at the end of September.
There are new aircraft and engine backlog records. September did not have exceptionally large aircraft and engine order intakes; 247 aircraft and 576 engines, so hardly a repeat of June this year but it was enough to propel the aircraft and engine backlogs to new industry highs. It was the third month in the last four that this has happened. So what we have here are new records for the total number of aircraft and engines on backlog and new records for both the number of single-aisle aircraft on backlog and the number of single-aisle aircraft engines on backlog.
The aircraft backlog now stands at 14,690 aircraft, 1,165 more than at the start of this year and 1,303 more that at the end of September last year. The single-aisle aircraft backlog is now 12,692 which is 904 more than at the start of the year and 980 more than at the end of September last year.
The engine order book (the same thing as backlog) now stands at 18,194 engines, 2,376 more than at the start of this year. The number of single-aisle aircraft engines currently on firm order is 24,290, exactly 1,800 more than at the start of this year. The number of single-aisle engines on firm order at the end of September was 86.1% of the total number of engines on firm order.
There has been good improvement in the number of widebody aircraft and widebody engines on backlog. The current widebody aircraft backlog is over 260 larger than at the start of this year and the widebody engine backlog is over 570 larger than at the start of the year.
This is all very good news for the industry. It means that there is tons of work in hand for several years to come. What is needed though is an increase in aircraft deliveries and, by definition, an increase in the number of new engine installs. So far this year there have been 719 single-aisle and 141 widebody aircraft deliveries. The single-aisle figure is the largest by the end of September since 2018 but is just over 100 deliveries short of the 2018 figure. The widebody figure is the largest by the end of September since 2019, but it is less than half the 2019 figure.