National Post (National Edition)
Boeing gets flurry of new jet orders
Kicks off annual dogfight with rival Airbus
PARIS • Boeing Co. unveiled a new version of its bestselling 737 aircraft on Monday, injecting life into a faltering civil aviation market as French President Emmanuel Macron flew in to open the world’s biggest air show in Paris.
After years of booming orders driven by increased air travel and more fuel-efficient planes, passenger jet manufacturers are bracing for a slowdown in demand while they focus on meeting tight delivery schedules and ambitious production targets.
But Boeing generated a burst of activity on the opening day by launching the 737 MAX 10 to plug a gap in its portfolio at the top end of the market for single-aisle jets, following runaway sales of the rival Airbus A321neo.
The U.S. plane maker 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.
“Many airports are running out of capacity and for those airports this is a perfect aircraft,” said Ajay Singh, chair of low-cost Indian airline SpiceJet, as his company signed a provisional deal to buy 40 MAX 10s.
However, Airbus immediately hit back with an order for 100 of its popular A320neo planes from leasing company GECAS, as well as a deal for 12 A321neos with Air Lease Corp.
Airbus sales chief John Leahy brushed off the latest Boeing challenge, saying that much of the interest in the MAX 10 was from existing Boeing customers switching orders from other models. “We think the 737 MAX 10 is a competitor to the (MAX) 9 and that’s why a lot of people are converting,” he said.
Twenty of SpiceJet’s order for 40 MAX 10s were conversions from an existing order for other 737 models.
GECAS also converted an existing 737 order for 20 planes to the new model and Europe’s largest tour operator TUI Group did likewise for 18 aircraft.
Boeing did announce provisional new orders for 90 MAX 10s, including 50 from Indonesia’s Lion Air.
It also won a boost from leasing giant AerCap for its 787 Dreamliner long-range jet, which sits in a category for which demand has been fragile over the past year.
Industry sources said that Airbus would soon announce an order for 10 of its A350900 wide-body jets from Ethiopian Airways, while it also looked set to clinch a US$5-billion deal with lowcost carrier Viva Air Peru.
While demand for passenger jets may be ebbing, there are signs that interest in military aircraft is picking up after years in the doldrums.
Lockheed Martin is in the final stages of negotiating a US$37-billion-plus deal to sell 440 F-35 fighter jets to a group of 11 nations including the U.S., two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
That would be the biggest deal yet for the stealth warplane, which is making its Paris debut this week.
Macron flew into the show aboard an Airbus A400M military transporter in his first official engagement since winning a parliamentary majority in elections on Sunday.
His arrival was followed by a flypast by the world’s largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380.
The ceremony lent highlevel support to two projects tarnished by difficulties: the A400M because of chronic cost overruns and delays and the A380 because of weak sales that threaten its future.