Boeing Co., the world’s leading commercial-aircraft maker, won a deal to supply more than 60 planes worth $8.8 billion to International Lease Finance Corp., ILFC, in a latest endorsement of buoyant demand for its hot-selling 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The agreement covers 63 planes, including 52 of the long- range, fuel-efficient Dreamliners, 10 of the single-aisle 737s and one 777-300ER, the companies announced at the show. The order has marked Boeing’s, which has decided to maintain a low profile in Paris, first major deal proclamation at a Paris Air Show. Moreover, Airbus has been in a vigorous competition with Boeing for winning the ILFC contract.
The show has been so far dominated by Boeing’s archrival Airbus. Airbus has recently announced that it would surpass 600 firm orders this year, after securing order for 219 aircraft worth more than $30 billion on Monday. However, the projected figure would be down from 790 net orders in 2006. As of now, Airbus has secured 420 firm orders on its books including Monday’s $45 billion roll-over prize placing it closer to Boeing’s level before the show started, a total 429 orders. For Airbus this year has started on a shaky note and at a slow pace it wanted to catch up with Boeing’s successful 787 Dreamliner, which conquered industry interest in 2006. However, Airbus had started making inroads with more than 100 A350 XWB’s, its rival model.
After the embarrassment of having to delay for the release of the A380 because of various related reasons, the European aerospace group has come on the front foot during the air show by securing significantly huge orders. Consequently, it is now quite apparent that Airbus seems to be surging back into contention in the sales race against US-based rival Boeing. As of now, Airbus has already bagged 420 secured orders against 435 at Boeing. The latest comeback for Airbus was set off by the release of design specifications for its A350 wide-bodied jetliner.
Airbus has been severely hit by delays to its A380 superjumbo, which resulted in a steep slump in the 2006 profits of its parent company EADS. Airbus had virtually relinquished leadership of the global order race to Boeing. The Airbus uncomfortably witnesses its market share plunging to 43 percent, following delays in building A380 superjumbo and designing the mid-sized A350.
