AIRBUS PILED up orders for its flagship single-aisle passenger jet at the Paris Air Show yesterday, adding to pressure on rival Boeing in one of the main battlegrounds between the plane makers.
Airbus said it had received commitments for 100 more A320neo jets worth $8.3 billion (€5.7 billion) in the past two days, bringing the total since it went on offer last December to 544 – well beyond the 500-order target Airbus had hoped to reach by the end of this week.
The momentum behind the A320neo, equipped with engines that are 15 per cent more fuel-efficient than current models, will force Boeing into a decision on whether to produce a new version of its competing 737 jet or to develop an entirely new aircraft that would take more than a decade to reach the market.
Airbus and Boeing are engaged in a battle for supremacy in the huge market for narrow-body, single-aisle aircraft with 150-200 seats, which are the backbone of the fast-growing budget airline market.
Healthy demand from buyers at the Paris show appears to confirm that a recovery in civil aviation is under way – driven by emerging markets in Asia and a sense of urgency, due to high oil prices, about more fuel-efficient aircraft.
A320neo buyers include leasing company CIT Aerospace, which is to purchase 50 of the planes valued at $4.6 billion at list prices. JetBlue Airways, a US low-cost carrier, committed to order 40 of the jets, while Garuda Indonesia said it would buy 10.
While the Airbus-Boeing duopoly remains intact, the presence of China and Russia this week was a reminder that new makers will soon try to make their way into the commercial sector.
China has come to the show for the first time with a model of its own passenger jet, the C919, which the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) hopes to have ready by 2014, with first deliveries two years later.
Ryanair confirmed yesterday that it has teamed up with Comac to provide input into the design of the C919, which may be used by the airline. It signed a memorandum of understanding to take part in discussions on the development of the C919, which will carry up to 200 passengers.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said it was pleased to have an alternative to Boeing and Airbus. The airline will have a fleet of more than 300 Boeing aircraft by 2013. “Ryanair can become a two aircraft operator carrier, as long as the economies achieved by our current Boeing 737-800 fleet can be matched or lowered by a similar sized order from a different manufacturer.”
Moscow, for its part, is pushing for Russian companies to raise their R&D spending as it seeks to modernise and diversify the economy. Russian planemaker Sukhoi is to bring a business jet version of its regional airliner to the market, and prime minister Vladimir Putin was at the show yesterday to promote the Russian aerospace sector.