24 June, 2017
"We had expected they would have had a bigger launch on the 737 Max 10, not quite as many conversions, more incremental orders", Airbus' Leahy said, adding Boeing's plane launch could result in price pressure.
Most of the sales were of single-aisle jets that are the workhorses of global aviation, particularly Boeing's 737 Max series and Airbus A320neo line.
In a late flurry this morning, Airbus signed deals for nearly 100 aircraft, with AirAsia and privately-owned Iranian carriers Zagros Airlines and Iran Airtour.
Both the 787-10 and the 737 Max 9 only made their first flights this year, and Boeing was eager to show off its new prizes to airline customers and the press, not to mention fierce rival Airbus.
On the final business day of the Paris Air Show, Boeing emerged the clear victor over rival Airbus, thanks largely to sales of the 737 MAX.
"It is getting a big endorsement from airlines and that is leading to more lessors endorsing it too", Ihssane Mounir, Boeing vice president for sales and marketing, told reporters. Despite slower growth in some of the hottest aviation markets, Boeing said it continued to see "resilient" demand with a long-term growth trend in traffic of five per cent a year. Boeing said the order, valued at $112.4 million, was previously attributed to an unidentified customer.
India's SpiceJet airlines immediately announced it would buy 40 737 MAX airplanes.
The US planemaker said it had more than 240 orders and commitments from at least 10 customers for the new 737, which can carry up to 230 people in a single-class configuration.
Ethiopian Airlines orders 10 A350-900 jets, worth about $3.1 billion at list prices.
United States aircraft manufacturing company Boeing outdone French rival Airbus with the most orders at the 52 International Paris Air Show this week.
Boeing's head of airplane developments meanwhile said he was "very optimistic" about the chances of establishing the business case for a mid-market jet project to open up new routes from the middle of the next decade. Established carriers are also swapping out older, less efficient jets for new versions and low-priced airlines are rapidly expanding their fleets.
At the end of 2017, Parker said, the average age of American's mainline fleet will be 10 years.
One star performer will be Lockheed Martin's F-35A next-generation fighter jet, scheduled to make demonstration flights during the air show.