Customers in North America have ordered more than 2,600 Airbus aircraft - with more than 2,000 of these having been delivered by April 2009. United Airlines, US Airways and Northwest currently operate the largest Airbus fleets among the company's more than 35 airline customers in the region.

Airbus' A320 Family is a bestseller in North America, flying with carriers such as Air Canada, Frontier Airlines, jetBlue, Northwest, Spirit Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways and Virgin America. Many carriers utilize several A320 versions in their fleets, benefitting from the aircraft family's operational commonality and flexibility to match seating capacity with actual passenger loads.

Widebody A330s and A340s also are operated or ordered by North American carriers, including Air Canada (which flies A330s and A340s), CIT Leasing, GECAS and Guggenheim Aviation Partners (A330s), Hawaiian Airlines (A330s), ILFC (with A330s and A340s), Northwest Airlines and US Airways (operating A330s).

North American customers also are acquiring Airbus' newest jetliners, with the A330-200F freighter ordered by Aircastle Advisor Ltd., Guggenheim Aviation Partners, Intrepid Aviation, MatlinPatterson and OH - Avion, LLC. The next-generation A350 XWB has received orders from CIT Leasing, Hawaiian Airlines, ILFC, Pegasus Aviation and US Airways. ILFC also is a customer for the 21st century A380 flagship.

The reliable and efficient A320 Family is popular in Latin America, where the single-engine jetliners are operated by carriers such as TACA, TAM, Mexicana, LAN Airlines and Avianca.

According to Airbus' Global Market Forecast published in April 2008, Airbus has won approximately 60 per cent of aircraft orders in Latin America since 1998. Today, more than 340 Airbus aircraft are flying with over 20 Latin American airlines - representing approximately 35 percent of the passenger fleet in service today. By 2010, this figure is expected to rise to 50 percent.

In 1999, TAM's first A330-200 entered service - today, this Brazilian flag carrier operates the largest Airbus fleet in Latin America. A vote of confidence for its partnership with Airbus, TAM signed a firm contract for the purchase of 22 new A350 XWB aircraft, 20 A320 Family aircraft and four A330s in early 2008.

Airbus has achieved approximately 55 per cent of the Mexican commercial jetliner order intake since 2003, according to the 2008 Global Market Forecast. An Airbus customer since 1990, Mexicana de Aviacion - the first airline to put the A318 aircraft into service in 2003 - now operates the largest Airbus fleet in the nation.

In addition, several North and Latin American countries depend on Airbus Military aircraft for reliable, effective service in search and rescue, maritime patrol, transportation, special mission and aerial refueling applications.

Airbus Military's C-212 light tactical transport is in service with the U.S. Army's Special Forces, as well as with such Latin American customers as the Mexican Navy, Prefectura Naval Argentina, the Venezuelan Navy, and the Bolivian Air Force. Civil and military customers in Canada, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, Suriname and the Dominican Republic also operate the C-212.

When the U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater modernization program evaluated candidates for the service's new medium-range maritime patrol aircraft, Airbus Military's CN-235 was a unanimous choice due to its versatility, cost-efficiency and the ability to perform a wide range of missions. Coast Guard planning calls for the acquisition of up to 36 CN-235s - which also are used by military operators in Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, and Chile.

The C-295 - the stretched-fuselage version of the CN-235 which is proposed for Canada's Fixed Wing Search and Rescue Aircraft replacement program - has also been sold to the Brazilian Air Force, Colombian Air Force, and Chilean Navy.