PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus overtook Boeing in unadjusted aircraft orders for 2014 after last month's Farnborough Airshow but continued to lag its U.S. rival when accounting for cancellations, company data showed on Monday.
The Airbus Group planemaking subsidiary won 980 aircraft orders between January and July, and said it had 705 net orders, beating its newly introduced target for the year.
Boeing reported 837 gross orders and 783 net sales after cancellations between Jan. 1 and July 29.
In an effort to reassure investors following a rise in the number of cancellations and amid growing industry concerns over a cyclical downturn, Airbus said last week that these included conversions between models and showed no underlying weakness.
It said some cancelled current-generation A320s would be replaced by orders for a revamped version of the same model, due to make its maiden flight in September.
In its latest monthly order table, Airbus set out in more detail the way its order book has been evolving.
It reported 44 new cancellations of its A320 model in July. Of these, 39 represented conversions between the two different models of A320, including 23 for AirAsia and 16 for Latam Airlines Group.
However, a detailed comparison of the data suggested that Latam had converted 12 aircraft and cancelled another 4.
Airbus declined further comment, saying it did not discuss decisions by its customers.
Airbus confirmed the cancellation of six A380 superjumbo aircraft for Japanese airline Skymark Airlines.
The latest totals exclude 127 provisional orders for the newest version of its wide-body A330 jet, the A330neo, which was launched in Farnborough. Firm contracts are expected to be negotiated in the coming weeks and months.
The latest tally included 40 out of 43 aircraft announced as additional plane orders for BOC Aviation at the air show. Of these, three had already been placed in the order book in May.
On top of orders announced at the air show, Airbus reported a sale of 45 A320-family aircraft to an undisclosed customer.
The data also showed that Australia's Qantas had cancelled five A320 aircraft. Industry sources have said approximately that number of aircraft, assigned to Qantas subsidiary Jetstar, have been sitting in Toulouse for some time awaiting delivery.
Airbus declined comment.
Qantas was not immediately available for comment.
Airbus switched to a net order target for the year with its first-half results last week, saying net orders should exceed deliveries, which should be around the same as the 626 seen in 2013.
Airbus said it had delivered 352 planes between January and July, including 16 A380 superjumbo aircraft.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Blaise Robinson and James Regan)