Boeing edged out Airbus to claim a sales victory at the Farnborough air show as its European rival failed to land an anticipated 100-jet order amid a flurry of late deals at the year’s biggest aviation expo.
The U.S. company ended the show Thursday after booking new business worth $79 billion from orders and outline commitments involving 528 jetliners, according to its closing statement at the trade fair southwest of London.
Airbus said it racked up $62 billion of sales from 431 planes, meaning the hoped-for order for A321neo narrow-body planes from AirAsia Group would have given it victory by a margin of just three jets. Instead the Malaysian operator signed for 34 A330neo wide-bodies while indicating that the single-aisle deal needed more work.
Thursday saw an unusually high level of activity for a fourth day of the air show, with Airbus and Boeing trading blows to rack up more than $32 billion of orders at list prices. The expo culminated with the AirAsia announcement, which at once buoyed the backlog for the A330neo, which has struggled competing with Boeing’s popular 787 Dreamliner, while revealing that the narrow-body component had fallen at the final hurdle.
