After the announcement from American Airlines Group to convert all of its order for Airbus A350 aircraft (22 aircraft) to the larger -900 variant, the A350-800 only has 61 remaining firm orders. This decision from American Airlines is considered key for the A350-800 future.
These orders include 12 from lessor Aircraft Purchase Fleet, 10 from Yemenia and 8 from Aeroflot (from originally 18 ordered).
The -800 has not secured an order for over 4 years and its backlog has depleted as customers migrate to the larger -900. Airbus has declared that they had decided to focus on two larger wide-body models (-900 and -1000). During the Paris Air Show in June, Didier Evrard Head of Program said that there was no allocated MSN for first A350-800 yet so it is not expected to be before MSN150.
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker (who cancelled an order for the A350-800 and boosted orders for larger types), said the 270-seater would likely not be built. "This is what they (Airbus) told us,"he told reporters at a trade fair.
Airbus had also announced in July the Regional variant of the A350-900 with the same engines than previously planned for A350-800.
Based on the article “American converts remaining A350-800s to larger -900s” published in Flight Global