Airbus, Boeing Get Boost from Narrow-Body Deals at Farnborough Airshow

A350 Cockpit

The world’s two largest aircraft manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing, were kept busy writing orders at the Farnborough International Airshow this week, with numerous purchases from Asian airlines with an appetite for narrow-body jets.

Airbus announced that AirAsia signed a firm order to purchase 100 A321neo aircraft, bringing the total number of A320 family aircraft ordered by the carrier to 575. Virgin Atlantic announced it is replacing its current flagship, the Boeing 747-400, with its “future flagship,” the Airbus A350 and signed a deal to buy eight of the high-tech wide-body jets, with plans to lease another four.

Indian low-cost carrier Go Air signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus for 72 A320neo planes as part of what it called an “ambitious expansion.”

Airbus also signed deals with Israel’s Arkia Israeli Airlines for up to four A330-900neo jetliners, and Vietnam’s Jetstar Pacific Airlines signed a memorandum of understanding for ten A320ceo aircraft.

Donghai Airlines, based in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, announced plans to buy 25 Boeing 737 Max 8s and five 787-9 Dreamliners in a deal valued at over $4 billion at list prices. XiamenAir, formerly Xiamen Airlines, said it had signed a memorandum of understanding to purchase 30 737 Max 200 planes in a deal worth over $3.4 billion at list prices.

Meanwhile, Qatar Airways, which last month cancelled its first delivery of Airbus A320neo jets due to delays, said the airline is in advanced talks with Boeing to buy as many as 30 narrow-body jets, while Airbus said it would scale back production of its A380 superjumbo starting in 2018, building just 12 a year down from the 27 it built last year.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)