Boeing Claims $75 Billion in Sales at Paris Air Show

During its closing press conference at the Paris Air Show Thursday morning, Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) reported new orders and commitments for 571 commercial airplanes with a total value (minus conversions and identification of previously unidentified customers) of $74.8 billion. The 737 MAX 10 (737-10) accounted for “more than 361 orders and commitments from 16 customers” according to the company.

Arch-rival Airbus, at its own end-of-show press conference, announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran Airtour Airlines for 45 of its A320neo family jets. The company claimed it wrote $39.7 billion in new business at the show, including firm orders for 144 new airplanes worth $18.5 billion and MOUs for 182 airplanes valued at $21.2 billion. By the company’s reckoning, that’s 326 new airplanes with a total value of $39.7 billion.

At the end of the day Wednesday, FlightGlobal calculated a total of 996 new orders and various types of commitments combined for Boeing and Airbus. Boeing’s total of 767 was more than triple the 229 total for Airbus and the list price dollar value of Boeing’s orders is four times better: $44.9 billion versus $11.2 billion for Airbus.

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The reported results, no matter which numbers we use, ended up far better than pre-show estimates of around 400 new orders combined for the two giants. Boeing’s 737-10 launch was by any measure a big success and, even without a new airplane to sell, Airbus had a better show this year than it did last year at the Farnborough Airshow in Britain.

Boeing clearly dominated the news at the Paris show, with the introduction of the 737-10 and the blizzard of customer orders and commitments for the latest addition to the 737 MAX family. The company still has some work to do to convert commitments to firm orders. The single largest new firm order for the plane came from lessor Aviation Capital for 20 737-10s.

In Thursday’s premarket session, Boeing stock traded up about 0.4% at $200.00, after closing at $199.17 on Wednesday. The stock’s 52-week range is $122.35 to $201.24.

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