Boeing Outpaces Airbus in Jet Orders at Paris Show
Boeing Co. announced new business worth more than $5 billion at the Paris Air Show on Tuesday, overtaking Airbus Industrie in the battle for new orders.
The rival U.S. and European aircraft makers dominated the third day of the weeklong show, as each sought to back up their competing claims to be top dog in the competitive world of airliner sales.
So far at the event, Boeing has announced orders and intentions to buy that total an estimated $7 billion, while Airbus has reported about $2.5 billion.
Boeing said Tuesday that Los Angeles-based U.S. International Lease Finance Corp. plans to buy as many as 100 Boeing 737 planes, worth more than $5 billion at list price. It also announced the sale of two 747-400 freighter planes to Korean Airlines.
That easily beat an announcement by the pan-European Airbus consortium Tuesday that it had sold 23 of its A-320 and A-321 planes to Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise for $1 billion.
The orders, which came after a slow start to one of the industry’s largest jamborees, were welcome news for the companies, both of which expect a sharp drop in sales this year.
Boeing is rebuilding after losses in 1997 of $1.8 billion, while Airbus is under pressure to boost competitiveness to stay in the race with its larger rival.
“It’s a significant order for Boeing; it points to strong demand for the 737,” said Brian O’Keefe, an analyst at Commerzbank.
Asia’s economic difficulties and the collapse of the Russian economy last year have put a damper on prospects for the airliner industry.
Both companies have said they see orders falling by about 40% this year--a sentiment reflected in the low number of new-order announcements at the Paris show so far.
Also Tuesday, Raytheon Co. won a $1.28-billion order from the British government for five battlefield surveillance aircraft.
Raytheon bid together with the Marconi defense unit of Britain’s General Electric. The team beat out rival bids by teams including Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp.
