Alitalia has canceled its order for 12 Airbus A350-800s. The order, which included 12 options, was placed in June 2008 by Italian operator Air One, with the aim of the carrier developing its long-haul network. However, Air One merged with Alitalia the following year.
Requests for information from Alitalia went unanswered Friday and no spokesman from Airbus was available.
The latest cancellation reduces the number of orders to 34 for the smallest member of the A350 family. In February, the number of -800s on order dropped by a further 10 after lessor International Lease Finance Corp. and Libyan Airlines dropped the type from their order portfolios, both opting instead for the larger A350-900.
The shrinking number of customers for the -800 (now reduced to five) has led to increasing speculation that the model will eventually be dropped from the manufacturer’s line-up.
