Military

Boeing, Airbus Add 700 Jets to Backlog

A330-900neo-Air_Asia_X
Airbus Group NV
The shooting down over eastern Ukraine of a Malaysia Airlines 777-200ER, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on Thursday, in addition to being a personal tragedy for the families and friends of the dead, has heightened tensions among Russia and Ukraine and the rest of the world as investigators begin their work.

The Ukraine separatists recovered one of the plane’s black box recorders and say they have sent it to Moscow for examination. A second black box was recovered by Ukrainian emergency workers Friday morning.

This is the second disaster for Malaysia Airlines in less than six months. In March, a 777-200ER vanished over South Asia with 239 passengers and crew aboard.

On that horrific note, the Farnborough International Airshow ends Friday, and the week-long show has treated the world’s two largest aircraft makers very well. Airbus said that it took orders for 496 new airplanes with a list price value of $75 billion. Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) reported that it took orders for 201 new planes valued at $40.2 billion.

Airbus rolled out its anticipated A330neo family, the A330-800neo and the A330-900neo, and wrote orders for 121 of the planes, which are valued at $242 million and $275 million, respectively. Airbus said the 121 orders were valued at $31.2 billion at list prices. The A330neo family is the company’s competitor to Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners.

The European maker also wrote orders for 363 A320 family planes, its entry into the single-aisle, narrow-body market, competing with Boeing’s 737 family. The total value of the orders was $39 billion, according to Airbus. The biggest portion of the orders was for the A320neo and A321neo models, with a total of 317 aircraft worth $34.4 billion.

Boeing’s most valuable order came from Qatar Airways, which reconfirmed an order for 50 777-9Xs placed at the Dubai Airshow last November and worth $20.1 billion at list prices. Boeing did not count an option for another 50 of the planes in its order total for the Farnborough show.

The Chicago-based company also took orders for 16 777s, 117 737s and 737 MAXs and 18 787 Dreamliners. The 777-9X is Boeing’s costliest plane, with a list price of $377 million.

ALSO READ: Why a Boeing 787-9 costs $250 Million

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