Airbus Orderbook Bulges, Boeing Rides High with 787

PARIS (AP) -- Order books at Airbus bulged this week as the Paris Air Show brought the European planemaker 425 bookings worth tens of billions of dollars, in a welcome distraction from troubles at Airbus and its parent company EADS.

While U.S. rival Boeing's performance at the industry's biggest gathering paled in comparison, the U.S. company went into the show at an advantage and still has the more popular mid-sized airplane, the 787 Dreamliner. Boeing's CEO said the company may boost production facilities to keep up with demand for the jet.

Many of Airbus' 425 orders came not from new customers but were confirmations of previous commitments to buy its planes. The only deal announced Friday was with Singapore Airlines, which signed a contract for 20 A350 XWB aircraft, affirming a commitment announced last July.

The strong week for Airbus provided a boost to the company's morale and fortunes, and especially to the A350-XWB, the Europeans' rival to the Dreamliner.

Airbus has been struggling to win customers in the lucrative medium-sized long-range jet market since it was forced into an expensive redesign of the A350 by unhappy customers -- resulting in the extra-wide-body, or XWB, model. The changes have pushed back the first delivery date of the plane until 2013, years behind the first delivery of Boeing's 787 due in May 2008.

Airbus took in 141 new firm orders this week for the A350-XWB, the company said Friday, though that included conversions of orders for the earlier A350.

The world's biggest passenger jet, the A380 superjumbo, fared less well, with 13 new firm orders from Emirates, Qatar Airways and Air France. Delays to the A380 wiped billions of dollars off profit forecasts at EADS a year ago, and along with management turmoil made 2006 a bruising year for one of Europe's biggest companies.

Most of Airbus' bookings this week came for the single-aisle A320 family, the company said, with 198 firm orders. It also won 83 firm orders for the A330-A340 family.

In addition to the firm orders, Airbus said it received new commitments this week for a total of 303 aircraft. Overall, its orders, including firm deals and commitments, totaled more than US$88 billion at catalog prices, though airlines routinely negotiate deep discounts.

That was well above the US$33.5 billion Airbus announced at the last Paris Air Show, in 2005, also based on list price.

This year's show put Airbus ahead of Boeing in terms of total orders so far this year, with Airbus at 626 and Boeing at 510. Airbus led Boeing on sales for several years but fell behind in 2006.

Boeing continued to pull in customers for the Dreamliner at Le Bourget outside Paris -- including a major deal with the original launch customer for the A350, Los Angeles-based International Lease Finance Corp.

"Our longstanding policy is not to store up order announcements for an air show," said Boeing spokesman Charlie Miller.

"We used the show to confirm that the 787 remains on schedule for first delivery in May 2008, and we look forward with growing excitement to the 787 rollout on July 8."

Given the heavy order loads for the 787, Boeing is currently studying the means to boost its production capacities, Chief Executive Jim McNerney said in an interview published Friday with French business daily Les Echos.

McNerney said the planemaker is "clearly pressured" on the offer side. One option could be a new assembly line for the 787 airliner, Les Echos reported.

He also said he expects large orders from US airlines by the end of this year or at the start of 2008.

Airbus is still expected to report another big loss this year. Worker morale is low, as Airbus pushes ahead with job cuts and factory selloffs as part of its Power8 restructuring plan, meant to recoup losses from the A380 delays.

Shares of Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. closed up 1.4 percent at euro24.10 (US$32.39) in Paris trading Friday. Boeing shares were trading down 1.19 percent at US$96.04 in New York.

The Paris Air Show opened to the public Friday and closes Sunday.

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