LE BOURGET: Aerospace giants Airbus and Boeing racked up orders at the 50th Paris Air Show while Embraer of Brazil and prop-jet specialist ATR also hailed milestone results, signs that the sector is flying high, analysts said yesterday.
Airbus was the first to release aggregate figures on firm orders and other deals such as commitments or memorandums of understanding, listing $39.3bn in confirmed purchases.
Boeing the unveiled its own numbers, which showed firm orders worth $38bn.
Including deals that remained to be finalised pushed the numbers much higher, and in all cases they represented catalogue prices which are often considerably higher than those finally paid after tough negotiations.
Both Airbus and Boeing found buyers for longer-range aircraft that consume less fuel, such as the Airbus A350 that made its first test flight last Friday.
Boeing also picked up more orders for its 787 Dreamliner, grounded for several months this year by battery problems.
Deals also focused on Airbus’ single-aisle A320 series and its rival, the Boeing 737 MAX.
In terms of aircraft numbers, Boeing announced firm orders for 302 planes, in particular one from Ryanair for 175 of the 737-800 model, while the total for Airbus came to 241, many of which were bigger, more expensive planes.
Earlier this month Boeing raised its estimate for global aircraft demand over the next 20 years by 3.8 percent to 35,280 planes worth $4.8 trillion.
Smaller plane makers were pleased indeed, with Paulo Cesar Silva, president of Embraer’s civil aviation division, telling: “The Paris Air Show 2013 has been a great show for Embraer, with the launch of the E2” family of regional jets. “This show is the best one for us in 10 years,” Silva added, as the company said it had taken firm orders worth $5.29bn.
For ATR, a European group that makes turbo-propeller aircraft for regional markets, it was “the best show in its history,” a spokesman said, with 83 firm orders, and a record total book value of $4.1bn.
Aircraft makers are benefitting from sustained passenger growth in regions such as Asia and South America, which encourages airlines to invest. The low-cost carrier Spirit, for example, ordered 20 Airbus A320 planes for its growing network in the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America, while British peer easyJet said it intended to buy 100 A320s.
AFP
