From Left: Airbus President and CEO Fabrice Bregier, Air France-KLM incoming Chief Executive Alexandre de Juniac and Rolls-Royce’s President of Civil Large Engines Eric Schulz, during a signing ceremony at the 50th Paris Airshow, at the Le Bourget airport near Paris, yesterday.
PARIS: Orders at the Paris Airshow surpassed $100bn yesterday, as planemakers Boeing and Airbus cashed in on demand for fuel-efficient jets and growth in both budget carriers and emerging markets.
Ryanair, Europe’s biggest low-cost airline, finalised an order for 175 Boeing 737-800 aircraft worth around $15.6bn at list prices on day three of the aerospace industry’s showcase event, the largest single order ever placed by a European airline with the US group.
Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said he was also working on an order for 200 or more of Boeing’s next-generation 737 MAX planes that could be concluded this year, potentially worth around $20 billion at list prices.
Not to be overshadowed, Airbus sealed a long-awaited order for 25 of its lightweight, wide-body A350 planes from Air France-KLM worth $7.2bn at list prices.
It also firmed up a deal worth $8.6bn for 30 more A350-900s from Singapore Airlines, taking the total on order from the carrier to 70.
The A350, which made its maiden flight on Friday, is Airbus’ answer to Boeing’s popular carbon-composite 787 Dreamliner, and the battle between the two models has been a key feature of the Paris show as the planemakers jostle to meet soaring demand for air travel in emerging markets, especially Asia and the Middle East.
“This show is about wide-bodies,” said Kelly Ortberg, president of Rockwell Collins, which supplies major systems to the 787 and A350. “And really good news for wide-bodies.”
Boeing bagged nearly $30bn in orders as it launched the 787-10 on Tuesday, a stretched variant of its high-tech Dreamliner.
Yesterday’s dealmaking took the order count for the show so far to more than $100bn at list prices, although many of the agreements were provisional and most sizable deals are struck at a significant discount.
Nonetheless, the activity confirmed plenty of work for civil aircraft manufacturers for years to come.
Ryanair’s O’Leary said the planned purchase of Boeing 737 MAX jets later this year would be “all growth” and not replacements for aircraft currently in its all-Boeing fleet.
If the order was not at least 200 planes, “it wouldn’t be worth doing,” he added, in typically forthright style.
But some analysts took this with a pinch of salt. While Ryanair could afford to use a large MAX order to expand, it is not under pressure to buy next-generation jets, said Espirito Santo analyst Gerald Khoo, and will likely wait until prices are at a cyclical bottom to get the best deal.
Reuters
