Airbus has logged an order for 130 A321neo twinjets from American Airlines, reinstating the carrier to its books after deliberately removing a similar firm deal in 2011.

American's entry into Chapter 11 creditor protection prompted Airbus to demote a 130-aircraft firm order, signed in July 2011, to the status of a commitment.

The agreement was part of a 260-jet order for Airbus of which half was allocated to the A321neo.

But Airbus's latest order backlog shows that 130 firm A321neo jets were assigned to American on 23 January 2013.

Airbus also booked the additional 10 A350-900s previously disclosed as having been ordered by lessor CIT.

But Irish-based lessor Aircraft Purchase Fleet appears to be the customer behind the cancellation of 17 A320s recorded during the month.

Aircraft Purchase Fleet had 33 A320s on the backlog at the end of 2012 but the latest Airbus data shows this has reduced to 16.

Airbus delivered 35 aircraft during January - including five A330s - but did not hand over any A380s.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news