Airbus Adds 100 to New Plane Orders to Win Paris Air Show Race

Because everything from elections to horse races are reported as, well, horse races these day, there had to be a winner in the “competition” for new orders at the Paris Air Show. And unless Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) has an order for about 100 new planes up its sleeve, Airbus clinched the trophy Thursday morning. Airbus now claims that it took orders and commitments for 421 new aircraft valued at $57 billion at list prices.

Airbus won a head-to-head duel with Boeing for 100 single-aisle planes from Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz, writing up a last-minute order for 100 A320neos. The loss was doubly disappointing to Boeing because the company had hoped that Wizz would become a second customer for the 787-200, which has so far found just Ryanair as its sole customer.

Airbus took orders for $15.6 billion worth of dual-aisle planes, comprising 31 A350-900s, 20 A330-300 Regional jets, and four A330-300s. The rest of the orders and commitments were all single-aisle planes from the company’s A320 family. Of the 366 orders written, 103 are firm orders and 263 are commitments that still need to be finalized.

Boeing reported later Thursday morning that it had won orders and commitments for 331 aircraft, with a total value of $50.2 billion. Of the total orders, 145 are firm orders worth $18.6 billion at list prices. The rest are either commitments or orders that were already in Boeing’s order book from unidentified customers.

There was no way that Airbus was going to lose the horse race for the most orders taken at the Paris show. This is the company’s home field, and it always wins when it plays at home. According to a report at Leeham News, Wizz did not sign the deal with Airbus until 10 minutes before the press announcement. Boeing was in the race right up to the wire.

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