In absolute numbers, Airbus undertook a huge defeat to Boeing during the Paris Air Show’s trading days. However, the event was marked by many early stage deals that will not necessarily be closed in the future.
According to data compiled by Airway, Airbus obtained 374 firm orders, options and prior agreements plus 364 units converted from existing orders, almost all of them to the A321.
Boeing, for its part, had 237 orders, but only 30 of them with firm orders. The announcement of the IAG Group, which intends to order 200 737 Max, was the biggest surprise of the air show, however.
Among the regional aircraft manufacturers, the highlight was ATR with 40 firm sales of its ATR42 and ATR72 turboprops plus 105 units of a prior agreement with the Nordic Aviation Capital leasing company, the largest of its kind in the segment.
If it did not get such high numbers, Embraer at least ended the Paris Air Show with 78 units sold between firm orders and options. United Express with 39 E175-E1 (20 firm plus 19 options) and KLM with 35 E195-E2 (15 firm and 20 options) were the main highlights.
Already its competitor Mitsubishi has unveiled only a Memorandum of Understanding from a US airline whose name was kept confidential – it plans to purchase 15 SpaceJet M100 jets.
Conversions
If it did not have as robust figures as other editions, the Paris Air Show 2019 showed the debut of the new A321XLR that attracted several customers who ordered new planes, but also converted previous orders.
The A321’s long-range variant had 243 orders on the four trading days of the event. However, 37% of them were conversions while 79 units had letters of intent and Memoranda of Understandings signed. Of firm orders, the A321XLR reached 59 aircraft: 20 of American Airlines, 15 of Saudia, 10 of Qantas and 14 of the IAG Group (eight of them for Iberia and six for Aer Lingus).
Few widebodies
Surprisingly, neither the A350 much less the delayed 777X received new orders. Instead, the 787 ended up doing better, despite the good performance of the A330neo. There were 25 firm orders from Boeing against 24 of Airbus, most of which were intended to be purchased.
If the 777X attracted no interest at least Boeing found customers for another 12 units of the classic 777, almost all for its cargo version.
